Tension in Jharkhand's Khunti district, policemen deployed | Photo Credit: ANI

Khunti (Jharkhand): Supporters of a tribal rebellion in Jharkhand on Tuesday kidnapped three policemen posted as guards at the ancestral home of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kariya Munda in Khunti district. The Hindustan Times reported that supporters of the so-called Pathalgadi movement raided the house of Khunti MP and former Lok Sabha deputy speaker Munda following an early morning operation by the police at their village to arrest two leaders accused of masterminding the abduction and gang-rape of five women activists last week.

A Jharkhand Police team comprising of some 500 personnel had gone to Udbhuru village, some 55 kms from the state capital Ranchi, to conduct a raid to nab Pathalgadi leaders Yusuf Purty and John Jonas Tidu, suspected to have masterminded the gangrape. However, they were prevented from entering the village by some 2000 locals. A police lathi-charge followed triggering tension in the Udbhuru village and surrounding areas. Purty and Tidu, meanwhile, managed to flee.

Khunti Superintendent of Police Ashwini Kumar Sinha was quoted as saying that the Pathalgadi supporters spoiled their chances of arresting Tidu and Purty, following which they sealed their houses.

The Pathalgadi movement is a traditional practice in which villagers use stone plaques to convey messages. Many tribal villages in Jharkhand have used the practice to claim independence from state government control. Such stone slabs proclaiming independence and banning the entry of outsiders have been put up outside settlements across Khunti, Simdega, Gumla and West Singhbhum districts.

Jharkhand: 3 policemen posted at residence of BJP MP Karia Munda were abducted yesterday allegedly by supporters of 'Pathalgarhi' in Khunti. Search ops launched. 'Pathalgadi’ is reportedly a movement to declare certain geographical areas as self-governed by putting up stones pic.twitter.com/6WYHTBt7IP — ANI (@ANI) June 27, 2018

Meanwhile, following the police raid, some 300 angry villagers attacked Munda’s house at Anigada-Chandidih and kidnapped the cops, identified as Subodh Kujur, Vinod Kerketta and Suyom Surin. They also took away their INSAS rifles. The MP was not present at the house when the attack happened.

Additional Director General of Police (operation) RK Mallick was quoted as saying by the newspaper that a search and rescue operation had been launched for the police guards. There were reports of the cops being held captive at nearby Ghagra village.

The police raid followed the June 19 incident when the five tribal women associated with a non-governmental organisation were kidnapped and gang-raped by six men in Khunti’s Kochang village. According to ADG Mallick, the police had nabbed two of the six men who said during investigation that the women were raped and the act filmed on the direction of Tidu.