Police arrest three on charge of extorting Rs 10 million

 The police have arrested three persons on charge of extorting Rs 10 million in Makawanpur district.

The arrestees identified as Nishchal Paudel, Ganesh Ghale and Pritam Chhetri- all of Hetauda Sub Metropolitan City-9 - have been accused of extorting the amount from one Surya Prasad Paudel. On December 1 at night, they fired five rounds of bullets at the house of Surya Prasad before extorting the money, said the police. Nischal, the mastermind of the incident, is nephew of Surya Prasad.

The police have made public all the three accused amid a press conference today. "Nischal had ordered the firing at the house of Surya Prasad according to the preliminary investigation. However, no human casualties were reported. It is found that they opened fire at the walls of the house as a threat so as to make Surya Prasad pay the ransom," said Superintendent of Police Sitaram Rijal.

The police also confiscated 20 live bullets from Nischal. The accused are also found to have involved in the smuggling of illegal drugs. They rented an apartment in Hetauda-4, he said. The police seized two motorcycles, two grams brown heroin, five mobile phones and Rs 50,000 in cash from the arrestees. The police will file a case relating to attempted murder, narcotic drug trafficking and arms and weapons against the arrestees, he said.