Four People’s liberation Federation of India (PlFI) supporters were arrested following a fierce encounter with the police at Selundi village under Anandpur police station adjoining Naxal-infested Manoharpur in West Singhbhum district on Sunday. The police claimed to have injured at least one rebel during the encounter.
According to West Singhbhum SP, Michael S Raj, the four suspected rebels in police custody are Budheswar Singh, Deepraj Singh, Manoj Singh, and Harekrishna Mahto.
The SP said that acting on inputs that a squad of seven PlFI rebels had come to Selundi village, located in the dense jungle adjoining Manoharpur they carried out the operation.
“We had enough information and a police team from the West Singhbhum district started search operation for the rebels. They later started firing bullets at the police party and the police also retaliated causing the rebels to start fleeing. In the process four suspected PlFI members were nabbed,” said Raj.
According to SP, 11 mobile phones, one Bolero Jeep, one Maruti Alto car along with some other articles have also been recovered from the spot after the gun battle. He pointed out that during the combing operation of the jungle, they found blood stains on the ground that led to the neighbouring Sundergarh district of Odisha. “We suspect one of the members of the squad has sustained bullet injury. We are grilling those in our custody,” said the superintendent of police.
According to the officer in charge of Manoharpur Police Station, rebels, 10-11 in numbers, were going somewhere but one of their vehicles broke down on the way. They were trying to hide themselves in the jungles but the information was leaked to the police, he said.
“As soon as we received the inputs, a police team was rushed towards them immediately. But the moment they saw us, they started firing. We also fired in retaliation, hitting at least two of them,” said the OC. But they succeeded to escape taking advantage of the dense forests, said the official.
Notably, PlFI, which is an off-shoot of naxal outfit CPI-Maoist, is active in West Singhbhum district now-a-days. On September 20, a PlFI activist was arrested from Sonua block of the district and on September 24, the PlFI rebels had snatched cell-phones of four villagers in Saundik village in Porahat area of the same district.
The police and paramilitary forces have also beefed up the naxal infested areas of West Singhbhum district. Sources informed that the police are frisking commuters in the bordering areas. At some places common people are also being interrogated by police and paramilitary force on suspicion. Forces have been deployed in strategic locations.
“Security has been beefed up in the area and they were keeping strict vigil on movement of the Naxalites. The plan is to keep a tab on the camps being operated by ultras,” said another official.
Meanwhile, in Saranda region of Chaibasa, the rebels also gutted at least eight heavy vehicles and earthmovers, engaged in Road construction, into fire at Gua Nuia, Salai and Roam blocks of Saranda in Chaibasa early in the morning on Sunday. The rebels, who were around 20-25 in numbers, also threshed the workers found on the site after tying them. The vehicles which were gutted in fire include four dumper, two JCB, one Grader and several small vehicles and machines. Police are investigating into the matter.
Notably, suspected CPI (Maoist) rebels blew up a police van carrying 13 persons in Kalapahar area of Palamu district killing seven policemen and seriously injuring another six. The incident took place under Chhatarpur Police Station of Palamu on Wednesday when a van carrying the state police personnel was coming back to the district headquarters after conducting an operation.
Following the incident, DGP DK Pandey had ordered to intensify anti-Naxal operations against the rebels to root them out from the State.