Rayagada: Six persons were arrested for allegedly posing as Maoists and threatening to carry out an explosion near the house of a businessman of Sunger village in Kashipur area of Odisha’s Rayagada district.
According to sources, the six procured gelatin sticks from Kerala to intimidate the businessman, Kumar Shankar Gopal (42) and extort Rs 5 lakh from him.
On getting the information, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, the bomb disposal squad of Rayagada, the District Voluntary Force, and the local police evacuated the area near the Gopal’s residence to avoid any untoward incident.
The police defused the bomb and seized five gelatin sticks (200 gm each), 10 detonators, and five-metre electric wire.
“The event took place on December 7, when the miscreants planted a time bomb in the toilet of Gopal. They demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh and threatened to eliminate him if he fails to pay the money,” Rayagada SP Vivekanand Sharma told media.
The cops confirmed that none of the accused is a member of the banned CPI (Maoist). The mastermind Ashok was working in Kerala and had returned to Rayagada a few days back. “Our preliminary probe suggests that the gelatin sticks were procured from Kerala as prime accused Ashok is acquainted with the southern state,” added Sharma.
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