Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh): A letter was sent to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik demanding Rs 50 crore ransom, following which an inmate of Bilaspur district jail was identified as its sender, a police officer said on Monday.

In the letter, the prisoner, Pushpendra Nath Chouhan, 40, had demanded Rs 50 crore from Naveen, Bilaspur superintendent of police Arif Sheikh said, but refused to divulge the content of the letter and the exact threat mentioned in it, asserting the matter was under investigation.

He said the letter, sent through post, was received by the Odisha Police on August 25 who in turn informed their Bilaspur counterparts on Sunday.

Bilaspur Police swung into action after being alerted, following which the officials identified and interrogated Chouhan, who hails from Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh and was currently serving jail term in dacoity and murder cases since 2009, Sheikh said.

Chouhan has confessed to have writing the letter to Naveen, the SP said, adding that his objective was only to "garner public attention".

"On Sunday, Odisha additional director general (intelligence), in a letter, informed Bilaspur police about the threat letter written to Naveen," he said.