After a hot chase, notorious criminal Binod Kumar Khopari (30) and 18 of his gang members were arrested from Chas (Bokaro) on Tuesday afternoon.
Binod is an accused in several murder and extortions cases and was active in Jharkhand and other surrounding states, said laxman Prasad Singh, Inspector General of Police, North Chhotanagpur range on Wednesday.
He used to threaten businessmen and contractors for extortion. He is also involved in murder cases, he said.
The arrested were identified as Promod Kumar, Girijesh Prasad, Jitender Sharma, Ravishankar, Shalender Kumar, Mantu Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Satish Kumar, Pitamber Singh, Harender Singh, Manoj, Rajesh, Bir Singh, Raj Kumar, Sushil Kumar and Kalicharan were sent to jail, informed IG.
“We had information about a group of criminals rushed at Central Bank situated at Siyaljori Chas and started thrashing to a land lord Fatik Sharma inside the bank. later they came out from the bank and again started beating Sharma, said IG. As ransom they are demanded land from Sharma for a builder named Shivanand Sinha. When Sharma denied Shivanand called Binod to teach him lesson. And on the call of Shivanand, Binod along with his men rushed to the bank; they thrashed and later opened fired outside the bank, said IG Singh.
later a team lead by SP Dhanbad, SDO Chas, DSPs with cops was constituted; they kept blocked NH 23 between Chas and Siyaljori and criminals were arrested. Police also seized three SUVs from their possession, he said.
In view of the festivities security has been beefed up across the district. We vow foolproof security cover; Cops asked to keep vigil on anti-social elements including mobike riders inside the city as well as on the entry point in the cities.
Miscreants would be dealt strictly and no compromise will be made in providing security to the people, he said.