3 PLFI activists nabbed from Ranchi, H’bag

Hazaribag: Three dreaded PLFI activists were arrested from Ranchi and Hazaribag districts during raids, police said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, ASP (operations) Ramesh Kumar said, “A joint team of Barkagaon and Keredari police of Hazaribag raided the two districts on Monday and nabbed the trio. First, we arrested Nitin Kumar alias Sonu from Gonda police station area in Ranchi and seized Rs 67,000 cash from him. The money was extorted from coal companies based in Barkagaon and Keredari. After his interrogation, we conducted further raids in Barkagaon and arrested Vikendra Kumar alias Vicky and Raju Prasad.”
Police said the trio made extortion calls to the firms through WhatsApp and phones. Kumar said a representative of a firm had paid Rs 2.50 lakh as the first instalment of the Rs 10 lakh demanded by the trio and police are still conducting raids to recover the remaining portion of the amount.
He added, “We have also filed an FIR at the Barkagaon police station after ONGC made a complaint against the three PLFI activists led by their leader Mahtoji. We are verifying whether they are real PLFI activists or threatening the companies in the name of PLFI to extort money.”