In a startling case of deception, Odisha police arrested 24-year-old Ankush Agarwal in Kalahandi district for posing as a Maoist to extort Rs 35 lakh from his father, Dinesh Agarwal, a prominent local contractor. The arrest, made over a week after Dinesh filed a complaint, unraveled a scheme that shocked both the family and authorities.

On October 6, Ankush placed a threatening letter inside his father’s car in Rupra Road, under Narla police jurisdiction, demanding Rs 35 lakh and threatening to harm the family if the sum was not paid. To intensify the ruse, he sent a similar letter to his father’s business partner. However, the plot unraveled when police investigations revealed the letter’s inauthenticity, with misspelled Maoist cadre names and immature, haphazard content that included personal family references.

Bhawanipatna Superintendent of Police Nagaraj Devarakonda told NDTV that a tip-off from someone Ankush confided in led to his confession during interrogation. “The letter lacked credibility, and its personal tone pointed to someone close to the family,” Devarakonda said. Ankush, who worked on a contractual basis, admitted to orchestrating the hoax to extort money from his father.

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The incident has raised concerns about familial trust and the lengths to which individuals may go for financial gain, prompting police to deepen their investigation into any additional motives or accomplices.

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