Vishakhapatnam: Â Police arrested a soldier for allegedly posing as a Maoist commander to extort money from a gold trader in Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh.
The soldier is identified as Chandanapalli Rajeswara Rao (27), police said. He drew inspiration from a web series to plan the crime, the police added.
The complainant on March 6 lodged an FIR that he got a phone call from an unknown man who introduced himself as a top Maoist commander. The caller asked the gold merchant to pay Rs 5 cr as protection money.
Reports said as the merchant told the caller that he won’t be able to pay such a huge amount, following which the bargained for Rs 1.5 cr. The caller asked the gold merchant to come to the forest area on Sunday to hand over the money. The police were hiding near in plain clothes and took the accused Chandanapalli Rajeswara Rao into custody.