Area commander of PLFI arrested in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum

Jamshedpur, Dec 23: In a breakthrough, an area commander of outlawed People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) was on Thursday arrested in West Singhbhum district. The security forces also recovered a cache of arms and ammunition seized from him. Among the things recovered from his possession were a rifle, five live cartridges, PLFI leaflets and a mobile, he added.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of security forces raided a forest area near Soga village under the Bandgaon Police Station and nabbed PLFI leader Bandhana Topno alias Sangi Topno, West Singhbhum SP Ajay Linda said.

Topno is the Karla Champua area commander of the banned outfit and has been wanted by the police in connection with several cases.

“We got secret information that the area commander and two or three other members of the outfit would meet in the forest. Accordingly, we launched the operation and arrested him. His accomplices managed to escape from the spot,” the SP said.

Topno was involved in an encounter with security personnel last week, in which another PLFI area commander Mangra Lugun was killed, the officer said.

Police said that the security has been beefed up in the area and they were keeping strict vigil on movement of the Naxlites. “There has been a substantial increase in Maoist activities in this. We are not much concerned about small acts of violence because these activities can be controlled by us, but the bigger attacks are worrisome,” said a security official.

“Security has been beefed up in the area and they were keeping strict vigil on movement of the Naxalites. The plan is to keep a tab on the camps being operated by ultras,” said another official.