Close on the heels of ransom calls made to a renowned businessman in the capital, police on Sunday arrested

Three rebels of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), who were staying at rented accommodations in the state capital, were arrested on Sunday with police claiming they were hatching a plan to target businessmen and industrialists for ransom.

The arrested insurgents have been identified as Vinay Tigga, Kachna Pahan and Sunny Kacchap, all in their mid-20s and residents of an area under the Nagri police station, police said.

Ranchi SSP S.K. Jha said police also recovered two pistols, 29 live bullets, three mobile phones and bikes from their possession.

“We had intelligence inputs that some PLFI rebels are secretly operating out of rented accommodations in Ranchi, planning to target businessmen for extortion,” said Jha. “After verifying the inputs, we constituted teams to conduct raids and the trio was nabbed,” he added.

PLFI is one of 17 splinter outfits in Jharkhand, primarily active in Ranchi, Khunti and Simdega. Founded by an ex-armyman Dinesh Gope, this Left Wing Extremist group, police say, is involved in demanding levy and extorting money from businessmen and industrialists.

During the raids conducted late on Saturday night, Vinay and Kachna were arrested from Ketaribagan under Namkum police station area. During interrogation at Namkum Police Station, they disclosed that one Sunny Kacchap, a member of their gang, was staying at a rented accommodation in Pandra locality. A police team later arrested Sunny from his residence in Pandra.

All of them have criminal records and FIR was lodged against the trio under section 385 and 387 of IPC and sections of Arms Act.