At least three armed extremists, suspected to be members of People’s liberation Front of India (PlFI), barged into a school in Simdega district on Friday and kept 35 children attending classes hostage for around half an hour for extorting levy from a teacher.The incident, which reminded one of Pakistani Talibans’ recent ghastly attack on Peshawar Army School, created panic among the villagers and also kept the State police on their toes for the whole day.
DGP Rajiv Kumar later confirmed that, although the rebels had barged into the school building, they returned after thrashing one of the school teachers Saroj Kumar Soy for not paying the due levy amount said to be earlier promised by him.“Three of the suspected PlFI cadres went into Kurumkela upgraded middle school under Kurdeg police station, taking the teachers at one place and threatened one of the teacher Suraj Kumar Soy, for not paying the due levy amount of Rs 2 lakh as promised by him earlier,” the DGP said. “Not a single student however, was taken as a hostage or threatened or disturbed by the rebels,” the DGP asserted.
According to police, Soy hailing from a village Kumkuri in the bordering Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh, was working as a para teacher at Kurumkela in Simdega.