After Doctor, Student & Vendor Lodges Police Complaint Against Blackmailer Couple In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: More skeletons are tumbling out the closet of the ‘blackmailer’ couple, who were arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 10 lakh from doctor during home visit in Odisha capital.

Nishikanta Patra, his wife Irani along with two of their associates – Manoranjan Pradhan and Saktikanta Harichandan – were arrested on September 12 and Commissionerate Police also seized a cheque bearing Rs 9 lakh and Rs 30,000 in cash from their possession.

A student, preparing for competitive examinations, lodged a complaint at Tamando police station here on Thursday, alleging that Irani had demanded Rs 2 lakh from him. The complainant said that she invited him to her house and then started blackmailing him by threatening to frame him in rape case.

A small-time vendor, who was also blackmailed by the woman and her gang, has filed a police complaint. She reportedly developed friendship with them on social media and invited them to her home on different dates.

Police had earlier informed that the accused had also extorted money from a PhD student of a private university as well as a businessman in the city.

The incident related to the doctor took place on September 8. The victim, a medical officer posted at a CHC in Jajpur district, reluctantly agreed to visit Irani, who telephoned him pretending to be sick. As soon as the doctor reached their house, the couple along the other two associates locked the door, snatched his phone and demanded Rs 25 lakh from him at knife point while threatening to lodge a false police complaint and tarnish his image, sources said.

While Rs 1 lakh was forcibly transferred from the doctor’s account to Irani’s, the accused collected Rs 9 lakh in cheque from his home.

The four were arrested after the doctor lodged a complaint at Tamando police station. They have been booked under Sections 342, 365, 385, 386, 387, 389, 394 and 120-B of the IPC. Saktikant, police said, was booked in a murder case too.

Police may take the four on remand for further questioning in the case.