A journalist and his associate were arrested and forwarded to court by the Bisra police on Monday, allegedly for demanding ransom from a businessman on behalf of the People's liberation Front of India (PlFI).
Sources said, one Surendra Mahato, who runs a hotel at Titrikela and a stone quarry under Bisra police station, received calls in his mobile several times since June 11 from one Batakrushna Swain, an Odia newspaper representative, for ransom of `10 lakh to the PlFI. Swain threatened him that unless he paid the money he would not be able to run his quarry. Mahato lodged an FIR at Bisra police station.