Security forces gunned down at least four Maoists, including a woman rebel at Ghaghrabeda Village on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur Highway in the jungles of Nawadih, hardly 35 km from the State capital, late on Wednesday night. Police have also recovered four firearms that were earlier looted from the State police, along with a huge cache of explosives besides more than `6 lakh in cash.
Following the encounter, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated Chief Minister Raghubar Das and State police officials for gunning down the Naxals.
DGP DK Pandey also rushed to the spot to boost the morale of the police team by distributing cash reward of `2 lakh each to the CRPF and State police team, led by CRPF Commandant Dilip Kumar and Bundu SDPO Pawan Kumar.
“You are getting `4 lakh for killing four rebels…. the more you will kill, the more money you get. This is a great achievement for the police force under Operation Night Dominance,” said DGP DK Pandey. He also directed SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi to forward the names of the jawans of the police team for Gallantry awards.
Two CRPF jawans also received minor injuries during the encounter and were air lifted to Medica Hospital in Ranchi for better treatment. Their condition is said to be stable now.
According to the police, acting on a tip-off about the movement of a group of Naxals, who had assembled in the jungle, security personnel comprising district armed police and CRPF rushed to the spot to intercept them at around 8:30 pm on Wednesday.
“As soon as the team of security personnel reached there at 9 pm, rebels opened fire on them. The security personnel in retaliation, also started firing on them killing four ultras including a woman,” said Ranchi Rural SP Rajkumar lakra. Bodies of the rebels have been recovered along with two SlRs and two 303 rifles, he added.
According to lakra, some other Naxals are also suspected to have sustained injuries during the encounter, which lasted for a couple of hours till morning, but they managed to escape. A massive search operation was launched this morning find them out, he added.
“Two CRPF jawans - Govind Singh and Saddam Ansari got injured who were immediately rushed to the Medica Hospital in Ranchi,” said lakra.
According to the SSP, it was suspected to be the group of Central Committee Member Vivek Ji, having a reward of Rs one crore on his head. The group was being escorted by a local group of Maoists in the area, including Mithilesh Ji and Amit Ji.
Meanwhile, Ranchi - Jamshedpur highway was blocked from both sides for security reasons during the encounter resulting into a long queue of vehicles on both sides throughout the night. They were made to switch off their headlights in order to avoid any untoward incident.