PLFI top rebel, area commander among 3 ultras held in Gumla

Gumla: A central committee member of the People Liberation Front of India (PLFI), who currently leads the banned outfit, and an area commander were among three rebels of the outfit arrested by security forces from the Murumkela Tetartoli village under the Kamdara police station limits of Gumla late on Wednesday night, police said.

The arrested ultras were identified as Durga Singh alias Panjari Singh (46), who was leading the outfit as second in command, hailing from the Jaria-Jamakel village under Lapung police station limits of Ranchi district, area commander Kaleshwar Hazam alias Tempu Hazam (27) from Bakaspur Lapa village under the Jariagarh police station limits of Khunti district, and Rajkumar Singh from Hendebili village under Ormanjhi police station limits of Ranchi, police said.

Gumla SP Shambhu Kumar Singh said, "Acting on inputs received about the presence of PLFI extremists, who were planning to extort money from construction project workers, a joint quick response team (QRT) of the district police and a small action team (SAT) of the 32 Battalion of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) was formed. During the raid, our team spotted suspicious people on two motorcycles near the Murumkela Tetartoli village. Upon seeing the police, the suspects attempted to flee. One managed to escape, but we successfully pursued and arrested three persons on the other motorcycle."

"Durga Singh was leading the outfit as its second-in-command after the arrest of PLFI supremo Dinesh Gope. One of the founding members of the outfit, Durga Singh has 18 criminal cases against him with police stations across Gumla and other districts. With these arrests, PLFL has become extremely weak in the district," the SP said.

Gumla SSB commandant Rajesh Kumar Singh added, "The operation was launched at 10.30 pm."

A double-barrel rifle, a country-made pistol, eight bullets of different bores, three PLFI letterheads, a mobile phone and a motorcycle were seized from the arrested ultras.