Maoist, carrying Rs 10L bounty, killed in J'khand encounter

A Maoist, carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district on Sunday, the police said.The encounter broke out this morning in the forests of the Panchlataburu hills in Rela Paral area under the jurisdiction of the Goilkera police station.

Kolhan DIG Anuranjan Kispotta said, "An encounter between Maoists and security forces took place early in the morning. A body was recovered during a subsequent search operation."

IG (operations) and Jharkhand Police spokesperson Michael Raj S said the body was identified as that of Amit Hansda, alias Aptan, a zonal committee member of CPI (Maoist), who carried a bounty of Rs 10 lakh. West Singhbhum SP Rakesh Ranjan said a tip-off was received on Saturday about the presence of Maoists in Rela Paral area. Hansda was wanted in 96 cases, including the killing of 12 policemen in different police stations of various districts. He was even involved in an attack on former MLA Gurucharan Nayak and looting of weapons on January 4, 2022, a police statement added.

Based on the input, a joint team of the Chaibasa Police and 209 Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) conducted a search operation in the morning and an encounter broke out around 5.45 am, he added.

Seeing that the security forces were overpowering them, the Maoists fled into the dense forests and during the subsequent search operation, Hansda's body was found along with a self-loading rifle and some cartridges, Ranjan added.