Jharkhand: 12 suspected Maoists shot dead in police encounter in Palamu

A joint operation conducted by the police on late Monday night in the Palamu district of Jharkhand killed at least 12 suspected Maoists.

“The encounter took place in Bakoria village, about 140 km from Ranchi in the wee hours. All the bodies have been recovered,” Superintendent of Police Mayur Patel said.

Additional Director General of Police (Operation) SN Pradhan told PTI that the encounter took place around 1 am.

Getting intelligence inputs that the Maoists were moving in the district, the CoBRA battalion and the district police rushed to the spot.

After receiving the tip-off, the police waited in the area close to the Satbarwa police station. On seeing the personnel, the Maoists got down from the vehicle and started firing on them, Pradhan said.

In the retaliatory action, 12 rebels were gunned down, he added.

“This incident happened in night. We got the information that there was some Maoist movement in the area. When we stopped their car during checking, they started firing. Then we also retaliated the firing in which 12 Naxals were killed. We will give the whole report to Jharkhand government,” Jharkhand police IG A Natrajan was quoted as saying by IBNLive .

The Maoists were moving in two vehicles. While one vehicle sped away, the naxalites from the other vehicle got down and opened fire on the police, Pradhan said.

It was the dasta (firing squad) of CPI (Maoist) ‘zonal commander’ RK alias doctor, the police officer said.

Eight rifles and 220 bullets were also recovered from the Maoists, according to India Today.

This is the first major incident in Jharkhand after Maoists had ambushed a police vehicle in Dumka on 20 April last year when the police party were returning after completion of the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Eight persons, including six policemen, were killed by the Maoists in that incident.

(With inputs from PTI)