An injured CRPF jawan being taken to a Ranchi hospital on Sunday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Nov. 22: A Maoist landmine killed two CRPF jawans and a police driver and injured six others travelling in a landmine-protected vehicle at Bishunpur in Gumla district this afternoon, barely three days before the state goes to polls.

The blast was triggered while the vehicle, carrying 14 security personnel, was crossing the Dardag culvert, some 150km from the capital where police arrested a JMM block president and his two aides earlier in the day for carrying explosive devices for a rebel group active in Bundu-Tamar.

State police spokesperson V.H. Deshmukh said the impact of the blast on the armoured vehicle was so severe that it killed two CRPF constables on the spot. Director-general of police V.D. Ram confirmed the blast, but refused to divulge details.

Sources in the police, however, said that the security team was on its way to Jodi village following reports of a rebel attack on a primary health sub-centre. “Maoists blew up the sub-centre around 1am. The landmine-protected vehicle, carrying CRPF and district police personnel, met the same fate 3km from their destination around noon,” a policeman said.

Gumla SP Narendra Kumar Singh and additional police superintendent S.A. Tigga camped near the blast site till late evening. Singh said the jawans died of multiple head and spinal cord injuries.

They have been identified as Pramod Singh, a native of Madhya Pradesh, and Arwind Sarkar of Bengal. Police driver Prakash Minz, a resident of Gumla, succumbed to his injuries at the local primary health centre later.

The injured include five CRPF personnel and a district police jawan. Of the six, the condition of three — Suman Sharma, J. Franklin and Chandradeo Mondal — is serious. “They were airlifted to Ranchi and admitted to Apollo,” an officer said.

Hospital superintendent P.D. Sinha confirmed that the jawans had suffered head and spinal cord injuries.

Ranchi police have, meanwhile, arrested JMM’s Bundu block president Mohammed Irshad and his aides, Haradhan Lohra and Sukhdeo Swansi, with devices that can be used to detonate landmines.

The haul includes 20 camera flashlights, 20 soldering machines, 12 soldering wires, 24 battery chargers and a multimeter.

Ranchi SSP Praveen Kumar said the devices were to be supplied to self-styled area commander Kundan Pahan.

The devices, he said, were meant for disrupting polling in Bundu-Tamar during the second phase on December 2.

“These wires, flashlights and chargers can be used to produce high voltage electric impulse required to detonate landmines. The multimeter is used to check the continuity of circuit,” Kumar said.