Lohardaga/Chatra (Jharkhand): Maoists
torched twenty vehicles and machines in Chatra and Lohardaga
districts, the police said on Wednesday.
"Suspected Maoists torched a Bolero, three trucks and
two costly machinery engaged at Pakhar Bauxite Mining in
Lohardaga district this morning," Lohardaga superintendent of
police Asim Vikrant Minz told newsmen.
The vehicles and equipment belonged to Atul Agarwal,
who had taken a contract from HINDALCO, he said.
The staff of the contractor denied receiving any
extortion demand from the rebels.
Another group of Maoists yesterday went to three
adjoining villages in Chatra district and set fire to ten
tractors and five other machinery engaged in sinking ponds at
three villages, Chatra superintendent of police Prabhat Kumar
said.
Denial of extortion by the contractors could be the
motive behind the arson in Chatra, Kumar said.
On May 14, the Maoists had torched 30 vehicles worth
over Rs 30 crore of a Mumbai-based road construction
department for denial of extortion at Morandi in neighbouring
Hazaribagh district.
PTI
