Admin
10 August 2024
Four days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a key operative of jailed gangster Aman Sahu for his alleged involvement in channelising money extorted from collieries in Jharkhand on August 6, the Chhattisgarh police in league with the Jharkhand’s Anti Terrorist Squad ( ATS) have nabbed a lady criminal.
Identified as Pammi, she was arrested after a joint operation carried out by them in the Hindpiri area of Ranchi. Pammi claims to be the wife of Akash Rai who is in jail in Simdega, facing umpteen cases of murder and ransom.
However, the investigating officers of the ATS and Chhattisgarh police suspect that “ she is beloved of Akash Rai”. She allegedly supplied illegal weapons and ransom-collected money.
Pummy and Akash Rai were allegedly linked with another gang member Shankar Yadav who was charge-sheeted by the NIA in the case. Pammi, after Akash, is the 27th accused to be arrested in the case.In all, 26 arrest were made by NIA.
NIA,which took over the investigation from the Jharkhand police in March 2021, had found Akash to have been actively involved, along with Yadav and others, in channelising extortion money for Aman, a statement issued by the probe agency had said on August 7.
Akash and Yadav had created false fronts to invest the extorted money in the real estate sector, it said. According to NIA investigations, Akash was facilitating several important members of the Aman Sahu gang with logistics and other support.
The case was originally registered at the Balumath police station in Latehar district on December 19, 2020, following an attack at the Tetariyakhad coal mine.
Aman, along with gangster Sujit Sinha and others, had hatched the conspiracy to extort money and disrupt the operations at the colliery, and had accordingly, planned the deadly attack, the statement said.
The Aman Sahu gang has the notorious distinction of being involved in several sensational crimes in Jharkhand, including firing on police officers and jail staff.
Sahu’s main targets have been businessmen and contractors. The gang has also developed connections with splinter naxal organisations and other organised criminal gangs outside the state to carry out its criminal activities, the NIA said.
With the arrest of Pammi, the Chhattisgarh police, Jharkhand ATD and NIA are learnt to be gearing up to interrogate her separately.
