|
Hazaribagh, July 29: Three persons were arrested on Sunday for demanding levy in the name of Maoists and leaving posters at Charhi-based Tapin South Open Cast Coal Mine — a project of Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) — which remained shut for 23 days after panic spread.
The arrested are Manu Kumar Singh and Rajesh Vishwakarma, both residents of Charhi, and Anuj Kumar, alias Munna, alias Badal, of Palamau district. Anuj was the mastermind and was related to Jharkhand Prastuti Committee, a breakaway faction of the CPI(Maoist). The trio admitted that they were planning to set coal stock at the mine on fire in a day or two, but were caught on time.
Five mobile phones, eight SIM cards and a countrymade pistol were recovered from them. Hazaribagh SP Manoj Kaushik said one of the SIMs was used to make extortion calls to officials of HSCL, the company engaged in mining at the colliery located about 31km from the district headquarters.
According to police, the three pasted posters, demanding a levy of Rs 1.5 crore in the name of Maoists, at the mine on June 27, triggering panic among the employees who stopped coming. SP Kaushik visited the site and assured the staff that the administration would provide security to them after which work resumed on July 21.
“Police conducted investigations and zeroed in on the three. Anuj is Rajesh’s brother-in-law. He came in contact with Manu through Rajesh,” the SP said.
|
