Ranchi, May 22: Five suspected PLFI rebels set an earthmover on flames and fired one round in the air at a rural road construction site in Burmu block's Umedanda village, some 50km from capital Ranchi, on Saturday night.

The men, all in the age group of 25-30 years, came on two bikes around 11pm. Though the labourers engaged in the work had left, the driver of the earthmover was present on the site. The armed youths overpowered him and set his vehicle on fire. Before fleeing the site, the PLFI rebels left behind some pamphlets, warning contractor Sonelal Sahu of dire consequences if he did not stop the 2.5km-long-road project right away.

The fire was controlled soon, minimising damage to the machine.

Police, however, are not ruling out personal enmity or business rivalry as a possible trigger behind the attack.

"Though we have found a PLFI pamphlet, asking the contractor to stop the work immediately, I don't think it is a handiwork of rebels. It seems to be a case of business rivalry. So far, he has not turned up to record his statement, but we have lodged an FIR and started investigations," Ranchi rural SP Rajkumar Lakra said.

Police said that the contractor had never complained to them about receiving any extortion threat from the PLFI.

Sources said that Burmu was one of the worst rebel-hit blocks of Ranchi district. And this was the second such incident in the district in the last two months.

In March, PLFI men had attacked a construction site of Madhucon Project along the NH-33 at Salgadih in Tamar block, thrashed its employees, damaged vehicles and equipment and looted cellphones. Five PLFI men were later held in this regard.