2 Maoists, including splinter group chief with Rs 10 lakh bounty, killed in Jharkhand

Two Maoists, including JJMP supremo Pappu Lohra, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhand's Latehar district on Saturday morning, police said.

Lohra, the chief of the Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), a Maoist splinter group, and his associate were killed during an anti-Naxal operation, conducted jointly by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jharkhand Police, in a forest under the Latehar Police Station limits, a senior officer said.

“Two Maoists were killed in a gunfight with security forces. The police have recovered their bodies,” Palamu DIG YS Ramesh told PTI.

The police said the bodies of Lohra and another person, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, have been recovered.

One dreaded member of the group, who was injured, has been arrested, and an INSAS rifle has been recovered from him, sources said.

Acting on a tip-off that Lohra and his associates were in the forest, a team of security personnel led by Latehar Superintendent of Police (SP) Kumar Gaurav launched a search operation, the police officer said.

“As the Maoists spotted the security personnel, they fired targeting them, and the team retaliated,” he added.