Bhubaneswar, July 20: A gang of sex workers near the Bhubaneswar railway station have been allegedly extorting money from passengers threatening to implicate them in rape cases.

Local residents alleged that the gang members had been involved in similar crimes in the past few months with auto-rickshaw operators in the area. The recent victim of the gang was Arun Sahoo, a 30-year-old man from Angul who had reached the city by train on Tuesday night.

"Sources said that the sex workers of near by Malisahi, the red light area of the city are involved in such offences and most often get away with the crimes due to reluctance on the part of the victims to lodge formal complaints. Most often it is alleged that the three police stations- Kharvel Nagar, Capital and Government Railway Police which covers the station area near Master canteen Square of being reluctant to lodge such complaints saying that the area does not comes under their jurisdiction.

Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi advised the passengers to report such matters immediately at the police outpost near the station. "Both the Capital and Kharavela Nagar police stations have been asked to intensify patrolling in station areas especially during late evening hours," said Bhoi.