3 cops held for extorting Rs 4.5L from bizman

In a major embarrassment for the State police, as many as three constables of district police were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly extorting Rs 4.51 lakh from a businessman.

The arrested constables were identified as Sadananda Pradhan, Saroj Seth and Bipin Bihari Bedbak. An accomplice of the trio, Jay Prakash Gupta was also arrested in this connection. The extorted amount was seized from the accused and returned to the businessman.

Reports said the victim businessman, identified as Nandalal Prasad of Paikmal here, was on his way to Sambalpur in a bus on August 26 night when the constables intercepted the vehicle and picked him up from the bus at Bhatli here.

The cops took him to the Sadar police station for questioning and later allegedly took away the cash from his possession. Acting on a complaint lodged by Nandalal, police investigated into the incident and arrested the four accused.

 Bargarh SP Mukesh Kumar Bhamoo said Jay Prakash had an enmity with Nandalal. On the fateful day, Jay Prakash told a constable of Sadar police station that Nandalal was travelling with a huge amount of cash and had links with Maoists.

Acting on the tipoff, the constables brought Nandalal to Sadar police station and threatened him of implicating him in a Maoist link case if he did not hand over the money, the SP said.