A breakaway faction of ultras shot dead 10 Maoists and claimed to have taken as many hostage during a firefight which continued till early morning on Thursday in Jharkhand’s Chatra district.
Security forces rushed to the jungles near lakramanda village after getting information about the gunfight between
the Maoists and members of the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) which had broken away from the CPI (Maoist) on ideological grounds a decade ago, Superintendent of Police Anup Birtheray told PTI over phone.
“This is the heaviest casualty ever in a clash between the two groups,” he said.The gunfight between the two groups started last night and continued till the early hours on Thursday, Birtheray said.
10 bodies of the slain Maoists and six weapons were found during a search of the spot, he said. He said the arrival of the security forces prevented the ultras from taking away the bodies.
Asked about self-styled TPC area commander Ajayji claiming that 15 Maoists were killed and another 10 taken hostage, the SP said, “We don’t have any information on that. We have only got ten bodies during search that was conducted by the security forces.”
According to sources, some of the Maoists killed might have been their top leaders. The TPC was formed in 2002 after a number of CPI (Maoist) cadres in Jharkhand quit the organisation following difference of opinion on various policy issues. TPC and the CPI (Maoist) have been bitter rivals among the six extre- mist outfits operating in Jharkhand.
The Tritiya Prastuti Committee which has declared that its main enemy was not the police but the Maoists, operates in Chatra, Palamau, latehar, Garhwa and parts of Hazaribagh district.
Jharkhand Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar said, “One AK 47 rifle, two .303 police rifles, three .315 guns, one carbine, cane bombs, large number of empty cartridges, literature and pithhoos were recovered.”