Police have intensified anti-Naxal operations in Chatra following the cold-blooded killing of a coal trader by CPI (Maoist) rebels in the district during Chhath festivities. Hardly 48 hours after gunning down a Maoist Sub-Zonal Commander, Chatra police on Tuesday recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from a Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) hideout.
The district police along with CRPF recovered rifles looted by TPC rebels from police patrolling teams in the past. The raiding team on Tuesday recovered .303 bore rifle, 189 live .303mm cartridges, at least 237 live .306 cartridges and 18 7.26mm bullets, police said.
Chatra Superintendent of Police Rishabh Jha said that the police made the recoveries on the basis of information provided by an arrested TPC insurgent, identified as one Krishna Ganju, who had a bounty of Rs.5 lakh on his head.
“Krishna Ganju, who was arrested last week disclosed about the places where they had hidden arms and ammunition which were looted from police teams,” said Jha.
While CPI (Maoist) is the oldest and the most dreaded Left Wing Extremist (LWE) group in Jharkhand, TPC is one of the 17 splinter outfits active in some parts of the tribal state, say police.