Twelve Maoists, including a top “commander”, were on Tuesday gunned down by police and CRPF in an encounter in Palamu district in Jharkhand.
The gunbattle took place around 1 am in Bakoria village, about 140 km from Ranchi. “All the bodies have been recovered,” Superintendent of Police 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,” CRPF Director General Prakash Mishra said.
Anurag was the main suspect in the rigging of the body of a slain CRPF jawan with an IED in latehar in 2013, he said. A cache of some 8-10 “sophisticated weapons” has also been seized after the encounter, Mishra added.
In the retaliatory action, 12 rebels were gunned down, Additional Director General of Police (Operation) SN Pradhan said. This is the first major incident in Jharkhand after Maoists had ambushed a police vehicle in Dumka on April 20 last year.