Jamshedpur: A CRPF jawan was killed in an encounter with Maoists in a dense forest near Dalapani village near Dalma in East Singhbhum, around 35km from here, early on Wednesday.
East Singhbhum SSP Anoop Birtharay, who reached the spot around 11am along with Kolhan DIG Kuldeep Dwiwedi, said the encounter took place around 5.30am.
"A joint team comprising police and CRPF personnel were carrying out search operations in the jungles following intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the area who had infiltrated from Dalma sanctuary side. While the security forces were climbing the hills, there was an exchange of fire. Jawan Nirmal Ghosh (30) took a bullet in the head and died on the spot," the SSP said.
Ghosh, who was posted at Kesharpur picket in Galudih, around 153km from here, since 2017, was a resident Bengal's Murshidabad district.
State police spokesperson and ADG (operations) R.K. Mallick said police and CRPF were in hot pursuit of the 14-member squad led by CPI(Maoist)'s Bengal central secretary Asim Mondal, alias Akash, and Patamda rebel Ram Prasad Mardi, alias Sachin, when the encounter took place.
"We had information that 13-14 armed Maoists were with the group led by Akash and Sachin, who operate along the Jharkhand-Bengal border," said Mallick.
Incidentally, after the surrender of Kanhu Munda and other top rebels, Akash, a native of Bengal's Hooghly district, is currently leading the rebel group in Bengal and comes to Dalma and Patamda often along with Sachin to increase their base.
The last encounter with the same group took place at Kondahansa forest on the foothills of Dalma in May.
"Today's encounter continued for nearly two hours and over 150 rounds of fire were exchanged between police and Maoists. As of now, we cannot confirm casualties or injuries on the Maoist side. The rebels retreated taking cover of the dense forest and hilly terrain," said the SSP.
Ghosh's body was brought to Sonari airport on a helicopter from where it was taken to CRPF 157 Battalion in Adityapur where security forces led by IG (operations) Ashish Batra and IG (CRPF) Sanjay Lathkar paid their last respects.
His mortal remains were likely to reach later on Wednesday night.
