Police heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday after nabbing three persons from Madhepura who were allegedly demanding extortion from eight VIPs, including a minister, a former minister and three lawmakers.

Minority welfare minister Bima Bharti, former minister Brishen Patel and legislators professor Chandrashekhar, Amla Sardar and Neeraj Kumar Babloo were among those who had received extortion calls or messages on their cellphones in the past week.

"In most of the cases, the demand for extortion money was made by SMS," ADG (headquarters) Sunil Kumar said.

Separate cases related to extortion demand were lodged with the police stations concerned in Purnea, Patna, Supaul and Saharsa districts. Some of the VIPs even apprehended threats to their lives and approached the police headquarters to enhance their security cover.

Alarmed by the frequent extortion calls made to VIPs, the police headquarters asked Madhepura superintendent of police (SP) Ashish Bharti to conduct a detailed probe and nab the culprits. Subsequently, Bharti formed a special investigation team (SIT).

The members of the SIT learnt that the extortion calls or messages were being sent from a cellphone belonging to a government schoolteacher in Alamnagar block of Madhepura district.

The teacher in question, Niranjan Kumar Bhagat alias Bablu Master, was picked up for interrogation.

Additional director general (headquarters) Sunil Kumar said two SIMs used for making the extortion demands were seized from Niranjan.

On Niranjan's statement, his associate Asgar Ali and cellphone shop owner Santosh Kumar were also arrested.

Apart from three cellphones, the police seized 17 SIMs from the possession of Niranjan, who confessed to his crime. During investigation, it came to light that all the SIMs were issued by furnishing forged documents.

"Niranjan demanded extortion money from the minister and other VIPs, as he wanted to settle a score with a resident who had exposed financial bungling by him - in the construction of a building of the school he was employed in - by using the Right to Information Act," the ADG (headquarters) said.

Niranjan had provided his rival's bank account number to those he made extortion calls.

Apart from the minister and MLAs, a circle officer, an official of the minority welfare department and a medical practitioner were threatened with dire consequences if the extortion money was not paid to the anonymous callers.

Several voters' identity cards and photographs were also recovered from the cellphone shop.