Security personnel foiled an attack on a police camp by armed CPI (Maoist) rebels on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday at Kochang block of Khunti district, police said, claiming that this attack may have been planned as a part of a series of incidents carried out by the insurgents as a mark of protest against recent counter-insurgency initiatives.
About five to six armed rebels tried to enter a police camp at Kochang, about 60 kilometers south of Capital Ranchi, after Sunday midnight to paste a CPI (Maoist) poster threatening bandh, police said. The rebels opened fire after being stopped by police personnel, and the police had to retaliate with counter-firing.
Khunti Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar said that the rebels fled the spot after getting overpowered by security personnel and disappeared in the dense jungles. “No casualties were reported during the encounter. Combing operations are being carried out across the district to nab the rebels,” said Shekhar, adding that at least 100 rounds were fired during the encounter.
Police sources said that the rebels who attacked the police camp at Kochang were armed with modern guns, but they had to retreat as they were outnumbered by security personnel. Security has been beefed up at police camps and potential targets of the rebels in Khunti and other Left Wing Extremism-affected districts following the encounter in the wee hours of Monday, police said. As per figures with the Ministry of Home Affairs, at least 19 of 24 districts in Jharkhand are affected by Left Wing Extremism. Besides the CPI (Maoist), at least 17 splinter rebel outfits are also active in the state. The outlawed CPI (Maoist) rebels have become active in Jharkhand after the arrest of CPI (Maoist) central committee politburo member Prashant Bose and his wife Sheela Marandi in Saraikela on November 12.
The insurgents blew up railway tracks in Chaibasa and Latehar districts of the state in the past 48 hours, disrupting railway services.
The CPI (Maoist) has demanded the release of Prashant Bose and Sheela Marandi, who are currently being questioned by police from different states and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at Saraikela Jail.
Members of the banned rebel outfit have also been irked over the killing of 26 CPI (Maoist) rebels in an encounter at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra on November 14. The CPI (Maoist) had called for bandh on November 27 in six states – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha – against the encounter in Gadchilori. Even though the rebels did not include Jharkhand in the list of states where they called bandh, they warned that the state may witness Maoist incidents.