- Sat, 31 Jul, 2010, 2:45 am -

|| Extremists abduct manager of Construction Company while 40 dacoits on looting spree ||
Ranchi: Crime continues in the State unabated. Late Monday night nearly a dozen extremists claiming to be from Peoples War Group (PWG) abducted the Deputy Project Manager O. P. Singh of Gokul Krishna (G. K) Construction, from the construction site at Rampur- Kathitand, off NH-33 Ranchi Tata Highway, about 35 Kms from the Capital Ranchi.

G. K. Construction has been entrusted with the construction of 37 Km long Ring Road. The project is estimated to cost around Rs.470cr. The construction work is in full swing. O. P. Singh was supervising the work on Monday night when the extremists surrounded him at gun point and abducted him in his Bolero. After reaching the outskirts of the jungle area the extremists freed the driver and sent him back with a ransom demand of Rs.50cr for O. P. Singh’s release. Later, it was learnt that the extremists had reduced the ransom amount to Rs.25crAccording to latest reports available lat in the evening the abducted project manager Singh was freed from the clutches of the abductors by the Ranchi police team under SSP Praveen Kumar from the Taimara Ghati in Bundu area latye in the evening of Tuesday.

The unofficial reports say that the ransom negotiations had been fulfilled and the extremists released their victim thereafter.
The extremists had earlier, in December last, sent a letter to the Construction Company to give 10% of the project cost as levy to the PWG, the company however ignored the demand. Yesterday’s abduction is considered as PWG’s retaliation to press for their demand.

DIG R. K. Mallick and Hatia DSP Rajiv Ranjan reached the construction site and were inquiring into the matter. Combing operations put into force and according to the police the victim rescued safely.

In another incident 40 armed dacoits barged into the house of a businessman at around 11 in the night, near Muri in Tulin Namopara, 40Kms from Ranchi and looted the house of valuables worth lakhs of rupees. They bashed up the businessman and his 70 year old wife, resulting in severe injuries including broken bones. The dacoits ransacked the house for more than two hours without any hurry or interference. The businesman’s five sons were watching television in their rooms when the dacoits raided the house. All of them were in a state of shock and fear seeing the number and their arms. They did not dare to resist as they were being held at gun point.

The local MLANepal Mahto was informed about the incident in the night itself and till Tuesday afternoon was still awaiting his arrival.

The dacoits claimed that they were naxalites