A major Maoist extortion ring run by a splinter group of the left wing ultras received a body blow when the Rourkela police of Odisha apprehended a top operative from his hideout in far off Assam on Saturday.
Arjun Rana alias Kapil Pathak, a key conduit of the Jharkhand-based People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) was nabbed a special team of the Steel city police from the north-eastern state, Superintendent of Police (SP), Mukesh K Bhamoo said.
A semi-automatic rifle, five rounds of live ammunition has been seized from Rana’s possession. Police sources said Rana is one of the close associates of the PLFI supremo Dinesh Gope.
Bhamoo said Rana’s is part of an on-going operation against the ultras which began following the arrest of three operatives of the group, including Amit Sahu, in October 2021.
The police had then seized three 7mm pistols and around 55 rounds of ammunitions, including few of SLR automatic weapons and some improvised explosives, from the criminals who were part of an extortion ring running out of the city. The racket was operating to fund PLFI member operating from across the border in Jharkhand.
It mostly targeted businessmen, builders and other influential people. Bhamoo said that Rana is the mastermind of the ransom collection racket and would execute his plans with the help of some local contacts in Rourkela and other parts of Sundergarh district.
The criminals used to demand protection money ranging between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Preliminary investigations revealed that some small traders have paid money to the criminals after receiving extortion threats.
“The criminals would flaunt firearms in video calls they made to terrorise the targets. They would also issue threats over the calls,” said Bhamoo. T
The senior police official said that Amit used to provide contact numbers and other details about the targeted businessmen to PLFI local boss Arjun Rana. Sources said Amit had also given a car to Rana for use which has been seized from Gogamukh in Assam.