Extortion and assault on traders are rising in and around the city during the prolonged lockdown.

During the past one week, three cases of extortion and assault on traders have been registered with Ulidih police in Mango, Adityapur police and Golmuri police.

The latest incident took place at Golmuri market on Wednesday afternoon when two bike-borne criminals came in front of a grocery shop and fled having fired two shots at the shop where owner Manish Kumar Agrawal was inside.

One of the shots hit the shutters.

In an FIR lodged with Golmuri police, Agrawal said he had received an extortion call to which he did not cave in, which may have prompted the gunshots.

Golmuri officer-in-charge Ranvijay Sharma said the criminals had demanded Rs 10 lakh from Agrawal as rangdari (levy), which the trader had refused to pay.

Fear gripped traders at the Golmuri marketplace. A group of shopkeepers also approached Golmuri police for protection and speedy arrests of the criminals.

OC Sharma said they were hopeful of a breakthrough shortly. “We have started raiding places in and around the city to trace the criminals. We are also trying to take CCTV footage to identify the criminals,” he said.

O May 17, Nayak Mustafa, 25, snatched Rs 1,000 from vegetable vendor Sayeed Akhtar by flashing a toy gun at the latter at Gandhi Maidan under Ulidih police station area in Mango. Mustafa was nabbed within two hours of the incident, but it triggered fear among vegetable vendors. Akhtar later revealed to the police Mustafa had been demanding rangdari since the past one week.

On May 16, a group of three criminals attacked a grocery shop at Adityapur and grievously injured shopkeeper Niraj Gupta. The three criminals had on May 11 attacked Gupta and his son after the latter refused to give one of the accused food items on credit.