Rourkela, April 25: Joydhar Gope, 29, of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a banned outfit, was killed in a police encounter on Bisra-Bandhamunda road on the city outskirts this morning.

Santu Barui, 28, another member of the outfit, suffered injury in the gunfight. Barui, who was shot in his leg, is one of the most-wanted members of the gang. He has been admitted to Rourkela government hospital. Gope was admitted to Ispat General Hospital.

Police seized two pistols and some ammunition from their possession. The incident occurred in the early hours when a police team was on its way to Majikuda village in the Bisra police station limits. Acting on a tip-off that a group of PLFI members hiding in the area and planning to commit a dacoity, the police headed for the village. When the cops reached the spot, the Maoists, who were around eight in number, fired at them, forcing the police to retaliate.

Inspector general (western range) Radha Krishna Sharma said the police retaliated strongly, in which two of PLFI men had suffered injuries while others managed to flee. The injured include top member of the gang and Gope.

Sharma said the gang had been involved in several dacoities, loots, kidnappings, extortions and murders in and around Rourkela as well as in neighbouring Jharkhand.

Gope was involved in around 58 cases, of which as many as 25 are murder cases. The police were searching for him in connection with murder cases in Jharkhand, two cases in Sundargarh and one in Rourkela.

The gang members used to kidnap people and ask for ransom. They were mercilessly killing people, apart from committing other crimes, to terrorise residents in the border areas. It was an outfit of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-M) which was later banned.

“We are verifying his other crime records. Besides, Barui’s crime records are also being checked,” said Sharma, adding that following the incident an intensive search operation had been launched in the area to trace other members of the gang.