Jharkhand: Police encounter in West Singhbhum district leaves four Maoists dead

PTC News Desk: Officials said on Monday morning that at least four Maoists had died in a shootout with police in the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. The region of Tonto and Goilkera was the scene of the incident.

“Two Maoists have been arrested, and four were killed in the gunfight,” stated Amol V. Homkar, IG (Operations) and spokesperson for the Jharkhand Police.

Superintendent of Police (SP) for West Singhbhum Ashutosh Shekhar informed HT that following the encounter, the troops were able to apprehend an area commander and a staunchly Naxalite girl. In addition, weapons and ammunition have been taken out of the encounter site, and search efforts are still ongoing.

The incident occurred two days after an encounter in the Narayanpur area of Chhattisgarh resulted in the deaths of eight Maoists and a jawan of the Special Task Force (STF)

According to news agency PTI, which cited police, six of the eight Maoists murdered in the encounter were senior rank cadres with total financial awards of ₹48 lakh. These cadres were part of the Maad division supply team formations and the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) military company no. 1 of the Naxalites.

In a news conference on Sunday, inspector general of police for the Bastar region Sundarraj P stated that this was the fourth significant victory in 45 days and the second major triumph of the Narayanpur police’s “Maad Bachao Abhiyan” (anti-Maoist operation) in less than a week.

“After forty years of Naxal brutality and terror, the locals, tribals, and villagers of Abhujmaad (in the Narayanpur district) are beginning to envision a place free from Naxalism, violence, and terror. The development process has been accelerated by successful anti-Naxal campaigns, he stated.

Eight Maoists were allegedly shot and killed by police on Saturday during an altercation in the district’s woodlands close to the villages of Kutul-Farasbeda and Kodtameta.

“Sudru, Vargesh, Mamta, Samira, Kosi, and Moti, who were active in different capacities in PLGA company no. 1 of Maoists and carried a reward of ₹8 lakh each on their heads, were identified as six of the eight killed cadres,” the IG stated.

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