Latehar, 26 May

A member of the banned CPI (Maoist), who was carrying a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on his head, was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhand's Latehar district on Monday, a senior police official said.

Another red rebel was arrested during the operation, he said.

The encounter between security forces and Maoists broke out early on Monday in a forest in Dauna area under the Netarhat Police Station limits, he said.

"Manish Yadav, who was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, was killed in the gunfight with security forces. Another Maoist, Kundan Singh Kharwar, was arrested," Palamu DIG YS Ramesh told PTI.

Kundan, a zonal commander of the organisation, is carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, Palamu IG Sunil Bhaskar said.

Two X-95 automatic rifles and ammunition were recovered from his possession.

Acting on a tip-off about the presence of Kundan and his squad in Dauna area, a team of security personnel, led by Latehar SP Kumar Gaurav, launched a search operation, a police statement said.

As soon as the Maoists spotted the security personnel around 1.30 am on Monday, they started firing and the team retaliated, the release said.

As Maoists felt that they could be overpowered by security personnel, the red rebels started fleeing the spot during which Kundan was caught with arms.

Later, the body of Manish was found during the search operation, the statement said.

“Manish and Kundan have been active in CPI (Maoist) for the past 12 years. Manish was wanted in 40 cases, while Kundan in 27 cases in several police stations of Garhwa, Latehar and Chhatisgarh,” Ramesh said.

Both of them were involved in several incidents, including an encounter on 7 January, 2013 at Amwatikar Tola under the Barwadih Police Station limits, in which 10 police personnel were killed and 15 injured, he said.

Ramesh said the two red rebels were also involved in an attack on the patrolling party during parliamentary elections at Lukaiya More under the Chandwa Police Station limits on 22 November, 2019, in which four police personnel had been killed.

The operation on Monday was conducted barely two days after two Maoists, including JJMP supremo Pappu Lohra, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, were killed in an anti-Naxal operation by security forces in the district.

On 24 May, Lohra, the chief of the proscribed Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), a Maoist splinter group, and his associate Prabhat Ganjhu, the sub-zonal commander of the organisation, were killed during the operation.

Ganjhu was carrying a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on his head.

The joint operation was carried out by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jharkhand Police in the Ichabar forest area under the Latehar Police Station limits.

Lohra was wanted in 98 cases, including murder, extortion, and arson, across several districts such as Lohardaga, Gumla, Chatra, Palamu, and Latehar, while Ganjhu was wanted in 15 cases.

Both were allegedly involved in the killing of Jharkhand Jaguar deputy commandant Rajesh Kumar during an operation in September 2021.