Rourkela: Five persons including two former Maoist cadres were arrested by Bisra police here on Monday for allegedly running an extortion racket in the name of Maoists. All the accused belong to Jharkhand, police said.
Two out of five arrested were earlier associated with Maoists, but later they had left the outfit. A pistol has been seized from their possession.
The accused had ransacked a construction camp and set afire a mixer machine at Kaliapos under Bisra police limits after a failed extortion bid on January 23.
The gang was busted after two security guards at the construction site were detained and interrogated by the police. Earlier the security guards had told the cops that armed Maoists had set fire to the mixer machine after ransacking property.
Police are interrogating all the five accused as it is suspected that the gang is involved in other crimes in the region.