Ranchi, June 28: Six persons were today killed by suspected ultras of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) at Hidingdag village on the outskirts of Ranchi city early on Tuesday, the police sources said.
The six bullet riddled bodies were found near the Khunti-Ranchi border in the state of Jharkhand.
The attackers are believed to be members of People’s Liberation Front of India.
The police said the PLFI ultras had shot dead their old cadres at Hidingdag, about 15 km from Ranchi under Tupudana police station.
The bodies of the deceased youngsters were recovered on Tuesday although the reason for the killings is unclear.
All bodies have been recovered, they said adding, it appeared to be turf war among the PLFI activists One of the deceased has been identified as Zakir, with a criminal background, the police sources said.
The deceased have been identified as Zakir Hussain, Aman Yadav, Manish Pahan, Anil Pahan, Pervez Khan and Raza Khan � all in their 30s.
Apart from Pervez and Raza, all the other deceased were from Silda village � located around 5 km from where the incident occurred. Pervez and Raza were from Pithoria and Nagri areas of Ranchi.
The police claimed that Zakir was leading the newly-formed group that was looking to extort levy.
However, Zakir�s elder brother Sabir Hussain Ansari, an autorickshaw driver, who was at home when the incident occurred, claimed that Zakir was involved in a fight with one Lal Mohan Yadav of the same village following the latter�s claim over the land belonging to Moharram Committee.
This is the second major incident of killing in Ranchi district in 24 hours.
On Monday three young people, including two brothers, were found dead in Kakara jungle in Namkon, 10 km from here.
The police said they suspected Maoists to have been involved in the killing of the three youths.
