Gariaband: The Gariaband police arrested six fake Maoists on Wednesday, who demanded Rs 5 lakhs ransom from Hemu Nagesh, son of the sarpanch of Khudiadih village of Chhura block. The pseudo-Maoist racket was headed by Gautam Chakradhari, an ex-Maoist, who is out on bail and a former dismissed assistant constable Prahlad. The miscreants were caught by the joint operation of the Chhura police's special team and cyber cell personnel.
According to reports, Hemu Nagesh (30), son of the sarpanch of Khudiadih village, lodged a complaint of extortion with the Chhura Police Station on August 23. Around four to five men entered Nagesh's house on the intervening night of August 23 and 24. They assaulted Nagesh and threatened him to pay Rs 5 lakhs, or else they would kill his father Vishnu Ram.
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Superintendent of Police JR Thakur said that they were identified with the help of the CCTV footage. A Cyber team was deployed to nab the culprits. Based on the information received, Prahlad Nayak, Rohit Nayak, Gemendra Dhruv, Omprakash Nishad, Gautam Chakradhari and Payal Manikpuri were taken into custody. On interrogation, all confessed to committing the crime.
Three airguns, walkie-talkies, Maoist uniforms and pamphlets have also been recovered from these fake Maoists. The gang has extracted more than Rs 20 lakhs from 20 sarpanches till date. Mastermind Gautam was also arrested in 2019 in a similar fake Maoists case. The arrested include five men and one woman.
