Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate Police – Bhubaneswar Saturday arrested gangster Raja Acharya and two of his associates on charges of extorting money from traders in Unit-I market here.
According to Twin City police commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi, ACP Manas Ranjan Garnaik interrogated Raja at Capital police station in Bhubaneswar earlier in the day following reports of extortion against him.
Commissionerate Police has recently set up an ‘anti-extortion task force’ to make Bhubaneswar and Cuttack free from extortion menace.
It may be mentioned here that Raja was the prime accused in murder of Judo coach Biranchi Das which took place April 13, 2008. He was arrested from Goa May 28 the same year. He was later released on bail in April 2018. However, Malgodown police in Cuttack arrested him again in November, 2019 on the basis of a non-bailable warrant issued against him by a local court.
As many as 40 cases are pending against him at various police stations in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
PNN