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A file picture of CRPF jawans in Saranda
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Jamshedpur, March 1: West Singhbhum police and CRPF jawans today captured four Naxalites near Chiria outpost in Manoharpur police station area of the district.
The police also confiscated four firearms and a high-powered grenade from the rebels — Mangal Suriya, Dombi Guria, Birsa and Doro Nogai — who are in their mid-20s and were members of Krantikari Kishan Committee, an offshoot of the CPI(Maoist).
Besides recovery of arms and explosives, the police also found three locations, where the rebels had planted landmines.
West Singhbhum superintendent of police Pankaj Kamboj said that the breakthrough followed the arrest of Vishnu Cherai on Wednesday.
“Following the arrest of Cherai on Wednesday, we succeeded in recovering a huge can bomb planted near a CRPF camp at Manoharpur. On being interrogated, Cherai led a team of police and paramilitary forces to two places in Surguiya and Bangurkia villages under Chiria outpost, from where the four rebels were nabbed,” he added.
Kamboj pointed out that Cherai was the president of the Krantikari Kishan Committee’s Kolhan unit and was active in the region in the past six months. He said Cherai was a big catch for the police, adding more arrests would follow based on information divulged by the netted Maoist.
After the seizure of firearms today, police pressed into service a bomb disposal squad to defuse the grenade.
Notably, the Kolhan area adjoining Saranda is increasingly turning into a Maoist stronghold. Intelligence reports suggest the rebels who had fled Saranda forest have shifted to Kolhan and were trying to woo villagers to join their fold.
The SP confirmed that Kolhan forest was also fast turning into a refuge for Maoists, adding the police had sent a big contingent of CRPF to carry out operations against them.
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