Two more naxals have been arrested by Jharkhand Police during the ongoing anti-naxal operation in Bulbul Forest and adjacent areas in Lohardaga district.

The operation has been going on for the past 17 days and the police and the CRPF arrested Maoists identified as Balak Ganjhu and Sudarshan Bhuiya. Both were carrying a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on their heads.

During the operation, the security forces had gunned down a Maoist and it was widely believed that the deceased Maoist was Balak Ganjhu. But his family members during the identification parade had told the police that the deceased Maoist was not Balak Ganjhu. “Now we have finally caught him alive,” said a police official.

IG (Operation) AV Homkar along with DIG (STF) Anup Birthary and Ranchi zonal IG Pankaj Kamboj addressed a press conference on Saturday. The police said that it was one of the biggest operations carried out against Maoists in Jharkhand. Homkar said that security forces recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition from Harkatta forest. It includes INSAS rifle (4), 303 rifles (8), American automatic rifle (1), over 2000 live bullets, and many others.

Earlier, during the operation, the security forces had arrested nine Maoists including Balram Oraon, (Rs 10 lakh cash prize on the head), Shailendra Nagesia, Lalita Devi (wife of Maoist Ravindra Ganjhu), Markush Nagesia, Viren Korwa, Mukesh Korwa, Shaileshwar Oraon, Sheela Kherwar and Dashrath Kherwar.

Police said that it was for the first time that such a large number of weapons were seized along with the arrest of Maoists. In 2018 security forces had carried out an operation against CPI (Maoist) at Pirtand in Giridih when 11 weapons were recovered.

During the operation on February 11, two jawans of the CoBRA battalion of CRPF Dilip Kumar and Narayan Das were injured in the landmine blast in Bulbul Forest area. Another jawan of CoBRA battalion Tomin Kumar was injured in a similar explosion the next day. On February 13 an encounter took place and security forces seized several weapons. On the next day security forces busted a bunker.