Ramgarh (Jharkhand), February 27 Unidentified armed men set fire to an excavator machine and took four workers hostage, threatening to burn them alive, in an alleged attempt to extort money from a stone crusher owner in Ramgarh district, Jharkhand, police said on Friday.
The incident took place in Sutharpur village within the Bhadaninagar police station limits on Thursday night.
Bhadaninagar outpost OC Akhtar Ali said, "A group of 12 unidentified armed individuals arrived at the construction site of the stone crusher on Thursday night and set a JCB machine on fire. At that time, four workers were on duty. The individuals took them hostage in a room and threatened to burn them alive if the owner did not pay money."
The individuals left behind a pamphlet of the banned Naxal outfit, Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), at the site and took away the mobile phones of the four workers, he said.
Prima facie, it appears that the motive of the armed individuals was to threaten and create fear among the workers and the owner to extort money, the OC said.
So far, no arrests have been made. Police said that CCTV camera footage is being analysed to identify the culprits.