BJP MLA booked for demolishing factory wall over Rs 10 lakh unpaid extortion: Police

Acase was lodged against BJP’s Baghmara MLA Dhulu Mahto in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district on Thursday for allegedly demolishing the boundary wall of a hard coke factory after the owner refused to meet his extortion demand of Rs 10 lakh, police said.

Along with Mahto, the local MLA, police booked 20 other people over the incident that happened in Maheshpur village in Rajganj police station area, they said.

Barun Kumar Singh, the owner of the factory, alleged in his complaint that 15-20 armed persons demolished the boundary wall of his factory with JCB earthmover machine after damaging the CCTV camera on Tuesday night.

Singh, a resident of Chandrapur in Bokaro, said the factory was attacked after he failed to pay Rs 10 lakh demanded by the accused.

Rajganj police station officer-in-charge Santosh Kumar said that on receiving the complaint police visited the spot and found the boundary wall of the factory demolished.

A case has been filed under IPC sections 147 and 148 that deals with rioting, 379 (theft), 385 (extortion), 427 (mischief) and 420B (cheating), among others, besides the Arms Act, he said.

Rubbishing the allegation, Mahto said he was unaware of the incident.