A JCB machine was burnt down by three unidentified people about 12 Kms from Tarhassi police station last night in Palamu. A rural connectivity was underway in this part of Tarhassi.
The SP Palamu Indrajeet Mahatha said that this appeared to be the handiwork of some new bunch of criminals. The SP denied there was any extremist hand in this case of arson.
He said police have found a hand written parcha from the arson site claiming to be of the Maoist organisations but this parcha is a fake one.
The SP further said that the offenders tried to give this arson a colour of act of extremism.
JCB machine belonged to Mumtaz Khan of Goorha village who told The Pioneer that a few days back he had got a call from one Santosh who identified himself to be of PlFI outfit and wanted money from him which he had refused point blank.
Sources said PlFI has one Santosh as its cadre but this call was not made by him.
Khan too did not negate it. The SP too supported the version of Khan saying the caller was just dropping in name of PlFI only to create a sense of fear in this contractor Khan. Criminals marching out as extremists in Palamu has a very old history where even dacoits prefer calling them extremists just to get open the door of the house unlocked. It has been a common phenomenon in this area over the years.