Maoists kill four labourers in Gumla

Ranchi, March 17: Maoist guerrillas on Thursday shot dead four labourers constructing a road in Jharkhand’s Gumla district, police said.

Some 20 Maoists raided a road construction company at Basia, 145 km from Ranchi, around 2 a.m. and opened indiscriminate fire, killing the four, a police officer said.

In Jharkhand, Maoists demand levy from contractors involved in road construction work. Police spokesperson S N Pradhan said the four were handpicked and killed among 30-odd workers by a group of PLFI rebels.

“It appears that one of them had left PLFI to form own criminal outfit. It possibly angered the PLFI rebels,” he said.

A police officer said around 40 PLFI rebels arrived at the construction site and took the PLFI rene- gade hostage. He was the chief caretaker of the PMGSY construction work at the site.

“Two other workers who were relatives of the PLFI renegade beside one other worker who had reportedly tried to oppose the rebels were also killed,” a police officer said.