india

Updated: Sep 16, 2019 09:07 IST

In a first of its kind incident in Odisha, a police constable was arrested Sunday on charges of extorting money while posing as a Maoist.

Police officials of Rayagada said, G Srikant Kumar, working as a reserve constable in District Intelligence and Operation Centre of Maoist-affected Rayagada district, had taken Saban Kumar Mohanty, the supervisor of a bitumen plant in the district and demanded money posing as a Maoist.

With his face covered, the constable held the supervisor of the plant at a gunpoint and demanded money.

Rayagada SP Vivek M Saravana said the owner of the plant on September 4 got a call from an unknown number on his mobile phone.The caller said if the money is not paid, then Mohanty, the supervisor of the plant will be killed and the plant would be set on fire.

Following this, Saban Kumar lodged a complaint at the Bissamcuttack police station the next day against the unknown caller.

During the course of inquiry, the police found out that the unknown caller was none other than G. Srikant. Police seized a 9 mm pistol, live bullets, three mobile phones and one two wheeler from the possession of the arrested constable.

The problem of fake Maoists is quite acute in Rayagada, one of the Maoist-affected districts of the state since early 2000. Every year, there are a few incidents of people getting arrested for extortion while posing as Maoists. In January this year, police had arrested four criminals, who tried to extort money from businessmen of Kashipur in Rayagada by posing as Maoists.

In July this year, three persons including a forest deputy forest ranger were arrested on charges of extorting people posing as Maoists in Bargarh district.