12 Maoists gunned down in J’khand police encounter

The gunbattle took place around 1am in Bakoria village, 140 km from <g data-gr-id="38">Ranchi .</g> “All bodies have been recovered,” SP Mayur Patel said.

A top Maoist “zonal commander” identified as RK, alias Anurag, alias doctor, and two other sub-zonal committee members of armed Naxal groups operating in and around the state have been killed. “It is a great success for us,” said CRPF Director General Prakash Mishra.

Anurag was the main suspect in the rigging of the body of a slain CRPF jawan with an Improvised Explosive Device in Latehar district of the state in 2013, he said. A cache of around 8-10 “sophisticated weapons” has also been seized after the encounter, Mishra said.

Acting on intelligence inputs that Maoists were moving in the district, CRPF’s elite CoBRA battalion and the district police rushed to the area. Seeing the security personnel, the Maoists got down from a vehicle and started firing, Additional Director General of Police (Operation) SN Pradhan said. In the retaliatory action, 12 rebels were gunned down, he added.

The Maoists were moving in two vehicles. While one vehicle sped past, the <g data-gr-id="45">naxalites</g> from the other vehicle got down and opened fire at the police, Pradhan said. “It was the <g data-gr-id="46">dasta</g> (firing squad) of CPI (Maoist) ‘zonal commander’ RK,” the police officer said.

Mishra, who is going to Jharkhand to take stock of the situation, said: “The teams that hit the Maoist squad today were working on some intelligence leads and they tactically moved in the area and executed the operation. It was good coordination between the state police and CRPF.” 

This is the first major incident in Jharkhand after Maoists had ambushed a police vehicle in Dumka on April 20 last year when the police party was returning after completion of the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Eight persons, including six policemen, were killed by the Maoists in that incident. Director General of Police DK Pandey, who went to the spot, said that the police got information that the Maoists had planned to blow up the new base camp at <g data-gr-id="49">Komandih</g> in neighbouring Latehar district ahead of inauguration on Wednesday. He said the police personnel involved in the encounter would be rewarded.

Giving details as to how the police intercepted the Maoists’ vehicle, Palamau Superintendent of Police Mayur Patel said after getting the tip-off, barriers were set up to check vehicles.

While one of the vehicles of the Maoists fled, the rebels from the other one opened fire on the security personnel triggering the encounter, Patel said.

RK, carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his arrest, was involved in gunning down a policeman, implanting bombs in his stomach before triggering the blast when additional personnel went to pick up the body, inflicting heavy casualties at Katia forest in Latehar district in 2013, the SP said. An <g data-gr-id="50">INSAS</g> and an American rifle were among the eight weapons seized along with 250 bullets, he said.