Aug 03, Minuwangoda: A Sri Lankan court today ordered a deputy minister to appear before the court over an extortion charge brought about by a businessman.

The Minuwangoda district judge and Chief Magistrate D.A. Ruwan Pathirana today issued notice on Deputy Minister of Petroleum Industry Sarana Gunawardena to appear in court on October 5, over a case filed by a businessman.

The businessman has alleged that the Deputy Minister sought a Rs. 25 million as extortion money for two plots of land the businessman purchased in the Nilpanagoda area of Minuwangoda.

The businessman is asking the court to cancel minister's threat and grant Rs. 100 million as compensation for the loss incurred by him on the land purchase.

The Deputy Minister has a record of unlawful conducts in the past.

In 2009, the police sought the MP's arrest for offences of unlawful entry, terrorizing, causing death threats using fire arms, assaulting with a fire arm, causing grave injuries and the abduction of a child after he allegedly beat a man and abducted his 12-year-old son.

Last year, the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa suspended the deputy minister from attending the parliament for a week over his unprofessional behavior during the President's budget speech on November 21.