Gangster Raja Acharya Arrested On Extortion Charges

Bhubaneswar: In a major development, the anti-extortion wing of the Commissionerate Police has arrested gangster Raja Acharya on charges of extortion. Raja was reportedly picked up by police and interrogated at the Capital Police Station this morning.

This comes a day after the twin city police announced the formation of an anti-extortion task force under Additional Commissioner of Police Rekha Lohani, to prevent incidents of extortion in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

After Raja's arrest, Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi said, "Every month, he (Raja) was collecting Rs 20000 extortion money from a person for construction of house. Not a single extortionist will be spared."

The Commissionerate Police has decided to act tough on gangsters and rowdies who harass people and extort money by terrorising them.

"Names of the people informing about extortion will be kept secret and they will also be rewarded. We seek people's cooperation, without which the initiative will not be successful. A database of known extortionists will be created for exemplary action and a helpline number will be issued for the public," Sarangi has said.

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There are as many as 40 cases pending against Acharya. In 2017, he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Biranchi Das murder case, however, the Orissa High Court had turned down the bail plea of the gangster in a kidnapping- cum-extortion case of 2010. The gangster was also arrested in connection with the abduction of Bhubaneswar-based Jyote Motors employee.