PLFI ultras gun down Jharkhand man on suspicion of girl trafficking
Jharkhand Police says there could be a love angle in the killing. Investigation is on.
Suspected members of the banned People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) gunned down a 30-year-old man from Jharkhand suspecting him to be a girl trafficker. The incident took place at Khanda village under Naxal-hit Bandgaon police station in West Singhbhum district, police said.
The incident took place on September 4, however, the matter came to the fore only after family members of the deceased youth, identified as Nungu Barjo, informed the police on Thursday.
Police said they were investigating all angles, including a failed love affair, after exhuming Nungo’s body from his grave in forests near Khanda village on Friday.
“We exhumed the body of Nungu Barjo from the grave inside the jungles near Khanda village in the presence of a magistrate. The villagers had buried him instead of informing the police. They had, however, informed his family about the incident, who later informed the police on Thursday. Khanda village being in the remote and deeply forested Naxal-hit area, and the legal obligation of exhuming the body from the grave, led to the delay in police action,” Nathu Singh Meena, Porahat sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), said.
Meena said a preliminary investigation has revealed a love angle. “The deceased had a love affair with a girl from Khanda village and the couple’s families had even discussed their marriage about a year ago. We have, however, not yet found any instance of human trafficking in the village or adjacent areas. We are interrogating the villagers in Khanda and other nearby villages and further investigation is on,” said Meena.
Some locals allege that Nungu had gone to Khanda village on September 4 and was allegedly trying to lure some village girls with job offers. This information somehow reached PLFI extremists, who shot Nungu. The ultras returned to the forests after the killing, while fearful villagers buried the body.
Man held in Chaibasa for trafficking minor
A man was arrested from Gandhi Maidan in Chaibasa on charges of trafficking a minor girl, who was being taken to Tamil Nadu along with 50 other girls and boys on the pretext of providing them jobs at one Loyal Textiles Mills Ltd, Tamil Nadu police said on Saturday.
The man, identified as Jawahar Das (38), was arrested following a tip-off on Friday and in coordination with the district child welfare committee (CWC).
“Chaibasa-based agent Jawahar Das was arrested and sent to jail on Friday, while a case was lodged against three accused, including Das, at anti-human trafficking unit police station under Sections 370(1), 370(4), 34 of the IPC and 14 (1A) of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016. Two buses from West Bengal were also seized among other things,” Amar Pandey, Chaibasa DSP, said.