Bhubaneswar: A person posing as an official of the Odisha Chief Minister's Office (CMO) in Bhubaneswar allegedly extorted Rs 2 lakh from a government engineer.

According to a complaint lodged by Pratap Kumar Haripal, who works as the Superintending Engineer of the Road and Building Division in Angul, one person named Janaki Ballav Mohapatra called him about a month ago and introduced himself as an official from the Odisha CMO.

The accused told Haripal that he had been transferred to Malkangiri and needed to pay Rs 2 lakh to put the transfer order on hold.

Feeling disturbed after receiving the phone call from the CMO, Haripal agreed to Mohapatra's proposal and paid Rs 2 lakh by personally visiting the latter’s residence at Bhimtangi in Bhubaneswar.

After receiving the payment, Mohapatra demanded an additional amount of Rs 5 lakh. When Haripal refused to pay, Mohapatra allegedly abused him and threatened to kill him.

With no option left, Haripal lodged a written complaint at the Airfield Police Station in Bhubaneswar. Based on the allegations, a case has been filed and a probe is underway.