Pipra police in Palamu have recovered one 303 rifle besides 914 cartridges of 22 mm bore and 80 other cartridges which all were buried near Jharna Pahar under the Pipra police station limits, said the SP Reeshma Ramesan today. 

The dump of the weapon and ammunition is of the Maoists SP said. Its retrieval ahead of the vidhan sabha election is a big jolt to the already disintegrating Maoists.

There is no arrest, she added. The dump was under the care of Nitesh alias Irfan, Sanjay Yadav alias Godram, Intaj Ansari alias Thegna all Maoists. 

Had this dump been not retrieved, the Maoists could have surely used it for some sinister gain. 

The Maoists vanished from the scene when a team of Pipra police, JAP and Jharkhand Jaguar's assault team dug out the weapon and ammunition. 

These Maoists might have scaled the hillock there just to see their treasure weapon and ammunition going into the hands of the police. 

Cartridges were oiled just to ward off the rusting to them, added the SP. The cartridges were in a can without its lid but oil was there. 

There were found alphabet like SPRG PPU and SPRG S and G on the cartridges which make it very enigmatic. 

Ramesan said "I can't say with any surety but what I have been able to find out PPU in cartridge alludes to Serbia while SPRG to the USA. Beyond this I have nothing more elaboration."

There was a five digit number on the recovered rifle too which remotely hints of its being a possible police weapon. 

Ramesan said a police rifle bears numbers at two places. Here it was just one place on the rifle that this number 23857 was written. 

The cache of weapon and ammunition was unearthed by the team of the Pipra police led by the SDPO Chhaterpur Awadhkishore Yadav and OC Pipra police station Vimal Kumar.