Bijay Kant, an area commander of Jharkhand-based extortion outfit People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), has been arrested in a midnight swoop by police. Kant also sustained a gunshot injury in the encounter.
His arrest is being seen as a major success in the wake of Kant having ‘entrenched’ himself with mass support base in the border pockets of the district and indulging in rampant extortions.
Three extortion-related murders, including that of BJD leader and contractor Hardeep Singh on July 7 night, had brought construction works in the region to a grinding halt as panicked contractors refused to work.
IGP (western range) YK Jethwa and Sundargarh SP Sanjeev Arora on Saturday informed mediapersons that on a tip off, Sundargarh district police raided Kant’s hideout at Lodhabasa forest of Rajgangpur police limits. He said Kant opened fire and police retaliated to nab him. Two small firearms, eight rounds of live ammunition, five mobile phones and other articles have been seized from his possession.
One Rajesh Tirkey was also arrested for giving him shelter, the IG said. Earlier, 11 persons had been arrested in connection with Hardeep murder incident.
Over the past few months, Rourkela and Sundargarh police nabbed 22 PLFI members, shot dead one and seized at least 15 sophisticated weapons, including AK-47, SLR guns and huge cache of ammunition.
It included the raid by a team led by Rourkela SP Himanshu Lal in a Jharkhand village.
Sources said the outfit is still very active in Jharkhand with its top leaders Dinesh Gope and Hira Singh having a free run.
It is learnt, the PLFI with around 500 members in Jharkhand is the second largest outfit after the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit.
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