Three Jharkhand policemen, who were allegedly abducted by Pathalgarhi supporters from Khunti district on June 26, returned Friday morning without their weapons.
According to media reports, three constables – Vinod Kerketta, Sion Surin and Subodh Kujur — were allegedly abducted from Bharatiya Janata Party MP Karia Munda’s residence at Anigada-Chandihdih in the Khunti district.
They were received by senior police officials at the Saiko Police Station Friday morning.
On Thursday, the Khunti district administration had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for those who could information about the whereabouts of the three policemen. .
Superintendent of Police (SP) of Khunti district Aswini Kumar Sinha had said search operations had been on to locate the missing policemen. He had said details of those giving information to the police about the whereabouts of the missing constables would be kept secret.
The constables, who were deployed at the BJP leader and Lok Sabha member Karia Munda’s house, were abducted by the supporters of ‘Pathalgarhi’ on June 26.
Pathalgarhi is reportedly a practice in which villagers inscribe various tenets on huge stone slabs and ban outsiders in the area.
The police had said the accused took out a procession and barged into the house of Munda, and took away the policemen. They also snatched the weapons of the constables.
Munda was not in the house when the incident took place.
The police had on Tuesday taken action against some Pathalgarhi leaders in Khunti district by attaching their properties.
On Wednesday, the police had fired tear gas shells and used batons to disperse a mob obstructing their search operation to rescue the three policemen.
(With agency inputs)