Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police have begun the process to banish a woman journalist and four others, who have been arrested on charges of abducting two businessmen and demanding extortion money, from the Odisha capital.
Briefing the media on Saturday, Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash said the five accused were nabbed by Nandankanan Police on the basis of a complaint lodged by Purna Chandra Sahu, a businessman of Kendrapada district, who along with another businessman of Kolkata jointly runs a mineral transport firm.
Giving details of the incident, the DCP said one Priyambada Nayak had called Sahu a fortnight ago, identifying herself as a reporter of Live Kalinga web portal. She told him that her organisation recently conducted a sting operation and found that he had committed the GST fraud worth over crores of rupees. She then asked him to come to Bhubaneswar and meet her in the office, failing she threatened to publish the report.
“Panicked by the call, Sahu and his business partner arrived at the web portal office in Raghunathpur area where the owner of the web portal Raj and his staff demanded Rs 10 lakh. As Sahu refused to pay the money, they severely thrashed them inside a room for two days,” Dash said.
He further said that the media staff later threatened the family members of Sahu and his partner and asked them to cough up Rs 10 lakh. The duo was released after their families paid the extortion money.
“Efforts are on to nab the owner of the web portal, who is absconding. We are also on the lookout for five more staff of the web portal involved in this case,” the DCP said.
Stating that there have been a number of allegations against this web portal, he said that police have sealed the office and seized all equipment.
“We have the information that the web portal staff had collected extortion money from several people and business establishments. None of them lodged a complaint as the staff had identified themselves as media professionals,” he said.
Two cases have been registered against the web portal in Chandrasekharpur police station and Infocity police station, he said.
“In view of public safety, the Commissionerate Police have decided to banish all staff from Bhubaneswar for which the process has begun,” he added.
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