A man allegedly attempted to extort Rs 10 lakh from novelist Anand L Neelakantan by claiming that he had insulted the Valmiki community in one of his books, police said on Tuesday.

The police in Maharashtra's Thane city has registered an offence under sections 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code against one Ravindra Chowdhary, who identified himself as the chairman of the Vishwa Valmiki Samaj, an official said.