Bhubaneswar: Chandrasekharpur police on Saturday arrested a woman for extorting money from street vendors by posing as an official of BMC. The police have also arrested one of her aide while seizing a car and some sharp weapons from the two accused. After booking the woman, identified as Anu Mishra, and her aide, Omkar Yadav, for fraud, attempt to murder and public fight, the police today forwarded the duo to the court. According to a police complaint, during the Corona period, Anu introduced herself as a BMC officer and kept collecting money from the roadside vendors in Saileshree Vihar and its nearby area by threatening them. A few days after a complaint was lodged against her, the accused woman brought some non-Odia youths with her and again started extorting Rs.500 to Rs 5000 from the street vendor on the pretest of providing them shop in vending zones. On Saturday, a youth named Dillip Sahoo of the locality stopped the accused woman from collecting money and tried to ascertain her real identity as an official of the civic body.
When Anu and her aide were trying to flee the spot in a car, some more youths of the locality stopped them from escaping. On being detained, Omkar alighted from the car with a machette and started attacking the local youths. However, the youths overpowered him and later handed over the duo to the police. Chandrashekharpur police station investigated the incident and found out that the accused were extorting money and forwarded them to the court on Saturday evening.
