Maoists' extortion threat stings locals in Jharkhand

Chakulia (Jharkhand), Aug 26(ANI): Aiming to create a fear psychosis, Maoists ultras have sent extortion letters demanding huge sums of money to a poor household in Jharkhand's Chakulia district, threatening of dire consequences in case of non-compliance.

The shocking issue came to light after a local health worker, Reena Rani, informed police of receiving a letter from the Maoists demanding Rs.100,000 as 'protection money'.

According to Rani, Maoists had sent her a similar letter in October last year, asking her to pay Rs.40,000. The ultras further threatened to blow her house up if she failed to turn up with the said amount.

Fearing for her life, Rani had immediately collected the money from her friends and paid the Maoists, who had assured they would not trouble her again.

However, the rural health worker received yet another threat in April, adding to her woes.

"On April 20, the Maoists sent another letter to us, asking us to pay Rs.100,000. The letter said that since we (Maoists) have saved you, we want the money in return. They asked us to pay the money in three installments, Rs.30,000 on May 15, Rs.30,000 on September 25, and Rs.30,000 in February 2012," Rani told mediapersons at her residence in Chakulia.

" As soon as we got this threat, we went to the Superintendent of Police and showed him the two letters," she added.

Rani further conceded that she could not arrange Rs.1,00,000, a colossal amount for a junior rural health official.

"They have threatened to blow our house up. They have also threatened to destroy the water tank and school near our house, since it lies in a police camp. The Maoists had earlier promised to leave us alone if we pay them the amount. However, when we got another extortion letter, we were shocked," Rani said.

"We cannot pay such a huge amount, since I am a junior official," she added. (ANI)