Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik receives Rs 50-crore ransom letter from Bilaspur jail

Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh): A letter was sent to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik demanding Rs 50 crore ransom, following which an inmate of Bilaspur district jail was identified as its sender, a police official said Monday.

In the letter, the prisoner, Pushpendra Nath Chouhan (40), had demanded Rs 50 crore from Patnaik, Bilaspur Superintendent of Police Arif Sheikh said but refused to divulge the content of the letter and the exact threat mentioned in it, asserting the matter was under investigation.

He said the letter, sent through post, was received by the Odisha Police on August 25 who in turn informed their Bilaspur counterparts Sunday.

The Bilaspur Police swung into action after being alerted, following which the officials identified and interrogated Chouhan, who hails from Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh and was currently serving jail term in dacoity and murder cases since 2009, Sheikh said.

Chouhan has confessed to have writing the letter to Patnaik, the SP said, adding that his objective was only to "garner public attention".

"On Sunday, Odisha Additional Director General (Intelligence) in a letter informed Bilaspur police about the threat letter written to Patnaik," he said.

Bilaspur Additional Superintendent of Police Neeraj Chandrakar interrogated Chouhan yesterday, he said.

As per preliminary investigation, Chouhan is mentally unstable, Sheikh said.

He said police will conduct a detailed investigation and send a report to the Odisha Police who will take further action in the matter.

Additional SP Chandrakar said Chouhan told him that he had a habit of writing such letters and had sent a similar communication to a district collector of Odisha in the past.

Chhattisgarh Director General (Jail) Girdhari Nayak visited Bilaspur Jail Monday and directed the authorities to probe the matter.