India News | West Bengal: 7 Arrested for Extorting People After Identifying Themselves as Maoists

Jhargram (WB), Feb 24 (PTI) Seven people were arrested in West Bengal's Jhargram district for allegedly extorting people after identifying themselves as Maoists, police said on Friday.

A complaint was filed by a businessman that he was threatened by Maoists and asked to pay a huge amount of money, they said.

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Three people were arrested in connection with the case earlier. After interrogating them, seven more were arrested from the Belpahari area, police said.

These men were allegedly operating a racket to extort people after identifying them as Maoists, they said.

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When produced before a court on Friday, five of the seven men were sent to three days in police custody while the other two accused were sent to judicial custody.

A case has been filed under IPC sections 386 (extortion) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), police said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)