Dhanbad, April 5: Forty-year-old Rita Hazra, a gynaecologist with RC Hazra Memorial Hospital in Dhanbad, received a letter from Jharkhand Assembly demanding Rs 2 lakh as extortion money on April 1.

Though district police authorities called it April Fools? Day joke, but Hazras referred to it as an unhealthy game.

Around 9 am on April 1, security personnel of the RC Memorial Hazra Hospital pushed a letter beneath the door into Rita Hazra?s chamber in the hospital. The letter was addressed to the doctor and had the message written in English. But due to work, Rita opened the letter the next day.

It was a three-page letter demanding an extortion of Rs 2 lakh. The money was asked as ?help? and ?donation? for Saryu Singh and Ramu Kuswaha who were supposed to visit Ranjit Singh, brother of Kamal Singh, in Siwan. The letter said Ranjit Singh was in a critical condition due to a severe bullet injury.

The letter also gave the payment details. The money was to be handed to a person wearing white shirt and black pant near the Dhanbad jail gate, the letter said. In case of inconvenience, it should be kept under Rajendra Parsed?s statue in new town hall by 2 pm on April 1, failing which, the outlaws will attack the hospital at 2 am.

The outlaws also declared further in the letter that RC Hazra Memorial Hospital was doing a commendable job in coalfield and they don?t intend to harm anybody. But in the very next paragraph, they made it clear that if their demands were taken lightly, then they would abduct Vikas Hazra, a family member.

Vikas is also a gynaecologist and brother of Rita Hazra.

The matter was reported to Bank More police station on April 2.

Deputy superintendent of police Rajiv Ranjan is inquiring the matter after a written complaint from Vikas Hazra.

?Till now nothing serious has happened. It might be a handiwork of nuisance mongers. The letter that we received did not mentioned names of any hardcore criminal as far as the police records in Dhanbad are concerned. Moreover, the timing of the alleged extortion letter also indicates a prank,? said the deputy superintendent of police.

Vikas Hazra, while talking to The Telegraph, however, said doctors are a soft prey for criminals and such threats should not be taken lightly as it might be an effort at establishing the budding extortion business in the coal capital.

?The letterhead of Jharkhand Assembly suggests that the nexus of these criminals with politicians. District police should not take the matter lightly. Even if it is a prank, it should be condemned as it is an unhealthy one. Though no follow up from outlaws after expiry of their self set deadline is a great relief to us,? said Vikas Hazra.