Lohardaga police have arrested a petty criminal Iqbal Ansari, who had allegedly assaulted a group of tourists, snatched their mobile phones, cameras and even tried abducting female tourists at Lavapani waterfall under Peshrar police station of Lohardaga district on Monday.
Few of his associates are suspected to be present on the crime site. Police claimed that the accused posing as left-wing extremists were carrying a pistol and a walkie-talkie and he looted and assaulted a group of 20 tourists.
Lohardaga SP Priyanka Meena confirmed the arrest but she refused to disclose any further details of the accused and the modus operandi of the crime.
However, sources in the police said that there is one more accused in the matter and Lohardaga police is trying to arrest him.
“There is no involvement of CPI (Maoist) in this case. He is a local criminal. The matter is under investigation,” said an official of Lohardaga police.
The matter came to light on Tuesday when two of the victims Jitendra Bhagat and Vikas Minj turned-up at the police station and lodged an FIR.
According to the FIR, the victims along with their friends had gone to the waterfall for sightseeing. There were some girls in the group also and all of them were enjoying themselves in different groups.
Victim said that suddenly a man in black cloth who was carrying a pistol and a walkie-talkie approached them. He snatched their mobile phones, cameras and also assaulted them. He then grabbed some girls and said that the armed squad of CPI (Maoist) needs girls hence he will take these girls with him. However, he released girls. He was also talking to someone over walkie-talkie. It is not clear whether the accused was actually carrying a walkie talkie or a toy and just fooling tourists by pretending to have a walkie-talkie conversation.
Local residents feared the accused may be actually associated with left-wing extremist group as Peshrar; badly affected by left-wing extremism is the operational area of top Maoist of CPI (Maoist) Ravindra Ganjhu.
But the incident has raised a finger upon security at tourist spots of Lohardaga which are mostly located in remote areas affected by extremism. Blessed with scenic beauties, Lohardaga has an abundance of opportunity to develop tourism in the district. But due to lack of infrastructure and security people feared these spots.
In the previous government some of the waterfalls and scenic spots were developed as a tourist destination including Lavapani, which is situated at Madanpur village under Peshrar about 52 km from district headquarters.
The Lavapani cascade is no less than Bahubali Mahishmati. Here, water flows on seven steps and the scenic beauty mesmerizes visitors.