A social worker was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly threatening and trying to extort money from a trader here, police said.?Gonda’s Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Mishra said a man named Sunil Tripathi who calls himself a social worker was arrested after a probe into a case of extortion lodged by a local trader.

Gonda-based trader Bhagwan Das Aggarwal had lodged his complaint on May 8, accusing Tripathi of extorting Rs 10 lakh by threatening to defame him by false propaganda, the SP said.

The case was lodged at the Kotwali police station of the district.?The SP said it has been confirmed in the preliminary investigation that Tripathi extorts money from affluent people by calling himself an RTI activist and social worker.

(With PTI inputs)