The search for the dead bodies of Triptiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) cadres who were allegedly killed by the suspected CPI (Maoists) in a fierce gun battle at Kauria village under Bishrampur police station in Palamau, is still on. The TPC cadres, according to police however, tried to dispose of the dead bodies by burning them while the police claimed to have found one of those.
“We are still trying to find out the bodies taken away by the TPC men and have located the place where they tried to burn some of them,” said DIG Palamu Ravi Kant Dhan. According to Dhan remains of around three to four bodies which they burnt has been traced out by the police force. “A body has also been found which is being identified by the police,” Dhan added.
The police sources however, told that the process of identifying those who got killed is being identified. “We have been able to identify around 5-6 people while the process of identify the others is on,” added the source. As the villagers are afraid of saying anything in this regard, police are not able to identify them, added an official.
According to police, a fierce gun battle lasting several hours broke out after 12 noon between a group of CPI Maoists and cadres of its rival TPC faction near Kouriya village under Pandu police station, 160 km from Ranchi. Sources also said a group of TPC rebels were moving towards Kouriya village when CPI Maoists in a planned way, opened fire which gave the TPC rebels little time to take positions and retaliate.
However, members of the both outfits had disappeared in the dense forest. The sources also revealed that the members of the CPI (Maoists) ran away with the arms of dead members of TPC. Formed in 2002, TPC has indulged in several bloody clashes with the CPI Maoists in Plamu, latehar and Chatra districts. According to the Maoists, the bloodbath of Saturday was a repercussion of March 2013 incident of Chatra, where TPC had killed 10 cadres of Maoist.