Burdwan: The police have arrested four persons, including a police driver, from Burdwan for attempting to sell a "genie in a bottle" to a resident of Baguiati near Kolkata.

The resident, Tapas Roy Choudhury, received a call from a friend informing him that a ghost, which would do anything for him and turn all his wishes into reality, was available for sale, police said today.

After an appointment was fixed with the seller, a curious Roy Choudhury came to Burdwan town with a friend. Four persons escorted them to a hotel in a vehicle bearing a police sticker.

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The four showed them a small soft drink bottle with a Re 1 coin in it and said the ghost was inside the bottle. They also demanded the price for the ghost, Rs 10 lakh.

When Roy Choudhury told them that he had no money, the four forcibly took Rs 600, all the cash Choudhury and his friend had at that time, and locked them up in the hotel room.

Police said Roy Choudhury somehow managed to contact a friend who informed the Burdwan police and the four were arrested. One of the four is a police driver.

The arrests were made on Thursday night and a local court released them on bail yesterday.