Ex-Police ASI Among 2 Held For Extorting Youth By Posing As Special Squad Officers In Bhubaneswar

A retired Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) is among two persons who have been arrested on the charges of looting a youth by posing as officials of the Special Squad, Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash said on Friday. The accused have been identified as Gyanaranjan Mohanty (60) and Kanhu Chanran Sahu (58).

According to Dash, Gyanaranjan earlier worked as an ASI with the Signals branch of the Odisha Police. He, he along with his associate Kanhu, would dupe gullible individuals by posing as police officers.

On February 10, the duo had extorted Rs 8,000 from a youth after threatening to arrest him. The incident took place under the Lingaraj police station limits.

“Both the accused had stopped the youth while the latter was walking on a road. After threatening the victim that a case had been registered against him, they extorted the money on the pretext of dropping his name from the case,” said Dash.

According to Dash, the victim subsequently had lodged a police complaint and a special team was formed to nab the culprits.

“It has been found that the both the accused used to stalk those walking alone and extort money by threatening them with arrest. They used to pose as police officers to commit such crime. So far they have confessed to their involvement in one case,” said Dash.

As it is suspected that the duo might have cheated others in a similar fashion, the Bhubaneswar DCP appealed people to come forward and lodge complaints if they have been victims of the of such trickery.