A Central Reserve Police Force jawan and a Maoist squad-member were killed following an encounter between the forces and the rebels in the Binpur region of Paschim Medinipur district early on Saturday.
Police sources said that on receiving a tip-off that hardcore Maoist commander Sasadhar Mahato and his wife Suchitra Mahato, along with 14 other squad-members, were camping in the Bandarboni forest, an operation was launched by the joint forces around Friday midnight.
While the security forces were cordoning off the area, the Maoists opened fire on the forces. The security personnel retaliated.
“The exchange of fire went on from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Even after heavy firing subsided, the Maoists continued firing few rounds in a scattered manner to confuse the forces and escape. That they fired so many rounds prove that a top leader was in the group,” Mukesh Kumar, Additional Superintendent (Operations) of Jhargram police district, told The Hindu .
A CRPF jawan, D. Stephen of the 184th battalion, received multiple bullet wounds and died on the way to hospital.
Body retrieved
Mr. Kumar said that the body of a suspected Maoist was retrieved from the forest after the encounter.
“It appears that a few more Maoists were injured, but they escaped. One small firearm, a few detonators and landmines were also recovered from the spot. Six persons have been detained from the nearby Siraboni village where Sasadhar Mahato is suspected to have been hiding for sometime now,” Mr. Kumar added.
The incident happened a day after the Paschim Medinipur police recovered a large cache of ammunitions from several Maoist hideouts in Lalgarh, Jhargram and Nayagram – claimed to be the largest ammunition haul in the district since anti-Maoist operations began there in June 2009.
