The body of CRPF jawan Sanjeev Kumar Singh being taken to Gaya Magadh Medical Hospital on Monday. Picture by Suman

Patna, Jan. 17: Maoists struck in Gaya today for the first time in the new year, blowing up a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan in a landmine explosion that touched off a fierce gunfight between the guerrillas and paramilitary troopers.

The landmine went off near Chakarbandha under Dumaria police station, about 100km from Gaya town, killing Sanjeev Kumar Singh, a jawan with the 153rd Battalion of the CRPF.

Soon after the first blast around 12.30pm, two more equally powerful explosions rocked the area. The rebels later started firing at the strong contingent of the police and the paramilitary force.

The improvised explosive devices were planted on a concrete cemented road leading to Barha village, about 20km from Chakarbandha.

The security team, comprising district police, members of the Special Task Force (STF), CRPF and the Cobra Battalion, were patrolling on foot towards the village, said to be a hideout of the Naxalites. The security team had a tip-off about a Maoist gathering in the house of one Ajay Sah, considered a staunch Naxalite sympathiser.

The blast was so powerful that Singh lost his right hand and was profusely bleeding when he was rushed to the Magadh Medical Hospital in Gaya town.

Unfortunately, the jawan succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. He was a resident of Chhapra in Saran district.

Gaya senior superintendent of police Amit Lodha told The Telegraph that the blast was so powerful it created a crater, seven-foot deep and 10-foot wide.

“The men were on foot but even then the blast occurred. The Maoists, who were hiding in the dense forest surrounding the road, triggered the blasts one after the other and then started indiscriminate firing. Our men were swift enough to take position and fired at them. The encounter went on till 3pm,” the officer said.

He added that there could be a possibility that at least three Maoists were killed in the combat.

“The report is, however, unconfirmed as the police have not recovered their bodies yet. The police had information that the Maoists had assembled in the house of Ajay Sah at Barha village. The village is located on the Aurangabad district border. Moreover, the whole place is very near the Maoist-affected Palamu and Chatra districts of neighbouring Jharkhand,” Lodha said.

Director-general of police Neel Mani confirmed that as many as 47 people with suspected Maoist links had been rounded up.

“The police reached Barha village and rounded up these men, though we cannot say for sure that they are Maoists. The police are verifying their backgrounds at this moment. The whole area has been cordoned off and search operations are continuing in full force,” Lodha added.

This is the first Maoist strike in the district this year, breaking the lull of two months. A jawan of the 3rd battalion of the Bihar Military Police (BMP) and a home guard personnel had died on the spot when a five-kg cylinder bomb planted by the Maoists had exploded at Beninagar, some 85km from Gaya, while being defused on November 20.

The same month, a pressure bomb had exploded while being defused at Banke Bazaar area of Gaya, killing two men of the 3rd battalion of the BMP.