Patna, Feb. 26: Six Maoists were killed and another was arrested during an encounter with police in Bihar’s Banka district today.

From the six bodies, the police identified one of the Maoists as Goluda, believed to be a hardcore rebel. The police have said the arrested guerrilla is Deven Tudu, a resident of Kaithavaran, which is close to Manjhidehi village, where the encounter took place.

Bihar director-general of police Neel Mani said a joint team of the Special Task Force and Banka police raided Manjhidehi village around 8am, acting on a tip-off. Deputy inspector-general, Bhagalpur range, Amit Kumar Jain was assigned to monitor the operation.

According to the police, when the joint forces ordered the Maoists, who were holed up in a house, to surrender, they started firing indiscriminately.

The police replied with bullets, killing the six Maoists. Deven was also taken into custody there.

Neel Mani said two self-loading rifles, another rifle, four magazines and 210 rounds of ammunition were found at the hideout. Three of the Maoists were in police uniform, he said.

The DGP said Goluda, a self-styled area commander in the Banka region, was wanted in several cases of violence. He was considered a terror in eastern Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal.

“Efforts are on to identify of the five other Maoists,” he added.

“The arrested Maoist is being interrogated by senior police officers,” Neel Mani said.

The DGP has recommended the DIG Bhagalpur for an out-of-turn promotion for the feat.

Inspector-general of police (operations) K.S. Dwivedi, also in charge of anti-Naxalite operations, said the police were tipped off on the presence of about 12 Naxalites in the village. Subsequently, a detailed strategy was chalked out and a joint police team constituted.