Three policemen deployed at the house of BJP MP Karia Munda were abducted on Tuesday by the supporters of the 'Pathalgadi movement' in Khunti district, a senior police officer said.
Additional Director General of Police R.K. Malik said the supporters of Pathalgadi barged into the house of the Lok Sabha MP at Anigada-Chandidih and took away the three policemen and their weapons.
The MP was not present at the house during the incident, he said.
The police had on Monday taken action against some Pathalgadi leaders in Khunti district by attaching their properties.
The ADGP said the police have identified the location of the abducted policemen and action would be taken to free them.
Khunti Superintendent of Police Aswini Kumar Sinha and Deputy Commissioner Suraj Kumar visited Munda's house following the incident.
Pathalgadi is a practice in which villagers inscribe various tenets on huge stone slabs and ban outsiders in their area, effectively declaring 'self-rule' from the government.
Under this system, hundreds of villages of Jharkhand have erected huge rock-pillars at the gateway of their settlements proclaiming that they are part of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, which provides local gram sabhas special powers regarding their “way of life and no outsider is allowed to move freely, settle, do business or [pursue] employment for livelihood’’.