Patna, Sept. 20: The conflict between the armed guerrillas of the CPI(Maoist) and Kaimur Shanti Sena, an armed group of villagers, is likely to intensify after the death of two Sena men in a gunbattle on Kaimur plateau in Kaimur district on yesterday evening. Their bodies were recovered today.

Police said two members of Kaimur Shanti Sena, including Lohra village head Satya Narain Yadav and Nagina Yadav, lost their lives in a fierce gunbattle with the Maoists in Bandha village under Audhara police station in Kaimur district on Sunday evening. Nagina was a resident of Dumrawan village.

Acting on a tip-off about a Maoists’ meeting on the plateau to chalk out strategy for an operation, over 24 members of the Sena proceeded towards Dugdha forests. Ram Vachan Yadav alias Pahalwan Ji and Sena commander Lal Bahadur Singh led the group.

Spotting the Sena men, the Maoists resorted to indiscriminate firing. The Sena men retaliated. In the ensuing encounter, two Sena men died.

The villagers told the police that the Sena men forced 100 heavily armed Maoists to retreat. But they returned with more manpower. They claimed that some Maoists were also injured in the exchange of fire but they managed to escape.

Receiving information about the death of the two Sena men in the encounter, Babhua legislator and patron of the Sena Ram Chandra Yadav rushed to the spot. He visited the encounter site today.

Deputy inspector-general (DIG) of Shahabad range Sushil Khopde confirmed the death of the two Sena men. He said a combing operation had been launched in the Adhaura forests to apprehend the Maoists involved in the incident. A joint team of the CRPF, STF, SAP and the district police led by Kaimur superintendent of police (SP) P.K. Srivastava had been engaged in the operation. The DIG said the bodies of the two Sena men were recovered today.

Babhua deputy superintendent of police Satish Kumar said the police force had to walk on foot for about 20km to reach the encounter site. The entire area is surrounded by hilly terrain and dense forest. “The police conduct operations against the Maoists from time to time. But the topography of the region is favourable for the rebels,” he said.

Kumar did not rule out the possibility of more clashes between the Sena and the Maoists.

Outpost demand

Ugravadi Virodh Manch, headed by Armendra Kumar Singh alias Guddu Singh, has demanded a police outpost at Shiv Sagar village under Baddi police station in Rohtas district in the wake of the threat to the villagers from the Maoists.

The Manch leader recently shot off letters to the DIG, IG (Patna zone), DIG (Shahabad) and the SP (Rohtas) drawing their attention towards the stepped up activities of the rebels in the region. “Even intelligence sleuths have apprehended attack by the Naxalites on several villages and the police stations,” he said.

Sources said the intelligence reports had apprehended attacks on Rohtas, Tilauthu, Darigaon Baddi and Chenari police stations besides new police lines and the district jail. Former Bihar DGP A.R. Sinha had lauded the support extended to the police by the villagers led by Armendra Singh in destroying the training camps of the Maoists near Dumarkhar and Kashishot (Guptadham) on Bihar-UP border in 2005. The villagers of Shiv Sagar and Vishrampur are on the Maoists’ hit list since then, Singh said.