The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Three held on extortion charge

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Sunday, Aug 05, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Three held on extortion charge

Staff Reporter

Rs. 30 lakh allegedly collected from a school correspondent

The trio were allegedly extorting money since five years
People urged not to fall prey to pseudo naxals and police

PHOTO: P. V. Sivakumar .

Deadly trio: Pseudo naxals being produced before the media by DCP ( Central Zone) Mohd Iqbal on Saturday. -

HYDERABAD: Extortions in the name of naxals and police are not unusual. But here is a gang that allegedly extracted money from a person claiming themselves both as naxals and police!

The city police on Saturday arrested N.V. Ramana, 37, T. Kantha Rao, 40, and T. Sadanandam, 38, all hailing from Vemulawada of Karimnagar district, on charge of extorting nearly Rs. 30 lakhs from a private school correspondent in Himayathnagar in the past five years. Interestingly, the arrested persons used neither knives nor any firearms like in the extortion cases reported earlier, Central Zone DCP Mohd. Iqbal told reporters here.

All that they did was drop a letter in the name of naxals demanding money and later threaten the targets over phone. It was only a few days ago when the victim approached the Narayanaguda police about fresh demands for money the string of extortions came to light. After painstaking efforts, the police first picked up Ramana from Vemulawada and the other two from city, based on his confession.

A vehicle mechanic, Ramana allegedly resorted to extortions in Karimnagar district with his associates using the name of Ranadheer, surrendered naxalite of CPI-ML Janashakthi, in 2002. He fled to city following the hunt by police and took shelter in the rented house of his old friend Sadanand.

Subsequently, the duo joined hands with Kanta Rao, also an acquaintance of Ranadheer and began extortions in the State capital. Since 2002, Ramana collected Rs. 10 lakh from the school correspondent in Himayathnagar claiming himself as naxalite.

“Having observed this, Rao hatched another plot for extortion keeping Ramana in darkness. He approached the correspondent in the first week of July posing as police Inspector,” the DCP explained. He intimidated the correspondent to implicate in a false case accusing him of funding naxal activities.

Thus, he collected Rs. 10 lakh and a cheque for an equal amount from the correspondent who approached the police as Rao continued to make calls demanding more money. On a tip-off, a special team lead by Narayanaguda SI N.L.N. Raju and Abids ACP G. Jaya Prasada Rao arrested Ramana and his two associates.

The DCP appealed to people not to walk into the traps of extortionists. “Approach us in case of such threats. We’ll tackle offenders without causing any danger to you,” he said.

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