Patna, Jan. 2: Three Maoists were killed this morning in an encounter with a joint team of security personnel in Rohtas district. Another Naxalite suffered serious bullet injuries. He has been admitted to a hospital.
The deceased have been identified as Kashi Kor, Guddu alias Prasadji and Santosh Yadav. The injured Maoist, identified as Sushil Choudhary, hails from Mathkupia village in Rohtas district.
A joint team of Central Reserve Police Force, CoBRA battalion and district police launched a manhunt near Matiama forest under Chutia police station, around 190km south of Patna, in early hours. They entered the forest based on a tip-off that Maoists from Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (UP) had assembled to chalk out an operation in the Rohtas-Kaimur region.
Spotting the security personnel, the Maoists hiding in the forest (where Bihar, Jharkhand and UP boundaries meet) started to fire indiscriminately. The cops retaliated and Kashi, Guddu and Santosh were killed around 10am.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kashi from UP’s Sonbhadra district had a reward on his head from the UP government. His 30-year-old associate, Guddu, also from UP’s Chandauli district, was evading arrest. Santosh, 28, was from Garhwa in Jharkhand,
The police recovered a self-loading rifle, a .315 bore rifle, a regular rifle, a semi-automatic rifle, five detonators, a walkie-talkie, an exploder and 170 live cartridges from the encounter spot.
Rohtas superintendent of police Manu Maharaj, who led the operation, said the drive against the Maoists would continue in the area. He confirmed that two of the Maoists killed in the encounter belonged to UP and the third hailed from Jharkhand.
“The antecedents of the deceased are being ascertained. We are in touch with our counterparts in UP and Jharkhand to get details about them,” Maharaj said, adding that the injured Maoist was undergoing treatment in police custody.
Sources said the Maoists had gathered to avenge the killing of one of their top leaders, Koteshwar Rao alias Kishen, in a police encounter in Bengal in November last year.
