In a major breakthrough, the Jharkhand Police have nabbed eleven hardcore PlFI rebels, including a sub zonal commander Rajan have been arrested from Pakartand in Gumla during an operation conducted by the security forces on Tuesday night followed by a brief encounter with the rebels. Several arms and ammunitions were also recovered from their possession along with mobile phones and their letter pads allegedly used for demanding extortion money.
"Acting on a tip off, police raided the area and arrested the self proclaimed PlFI Sub-zonal Commander Rajan alias Prakash Oraon, Area Commander Prem Sagar alias Prem Mahto along with ten of his associates after a brief gun battle last night," said Gumla SP Bhimsen Tuti. The Police claimed the arrests
"It is really a big achievement for the security forces in the recent past as it could be said that the PlFI cadres have been washed away from the western part of Gumla and we believe that there will be a sudden decline in the loot, murder and extortion cases in the area," said Gumla Sub-Divisional Police Officer Deepak Kumar.
The police sources claimed that the PlFI rebels started firing on the security forces as soon as the latter reached near Pakartoli village which was retaliated by them arresting 11 rebels, while the rest of them vanished in the nearby jungles taking advantage of the darkness.
According to an official release, as many as ten rifles of 0.315 bore with 54 cartridges, one SlR with 7 bullets, 16n mobile phones, letter pads of the organization, blankets, shawls and various other goods of day to day use have been recovered from their possession.
The arrested rebels were quite active in the adjoining areas of Gumla, Raidih and Palkot having several charges of murder, loot ad extortion on their heads. There are number of cases registered against them at different police stations, said the police source. The group was a terror among the people of the area especially among the business community, he added.
Arrested PlFI cadres include the names of Sub-zonal Commander Rajan. Area commander Prem Sagar, Area Commander Narayan Pradhan along with the gang members Bittu Sahu, Garvial Kujoor, Vikas Khadia, Mohan Ram Mahli, Kishore Badaik, Dhanser Minz, Gajraj Bhagat, and Raju Oraon.