RANCHI: At least five hardcore Maoists, including a Special Area Committee (SAC) member Gautam Paswan having a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on his head, were gunned down by security forces during an encounter at Lawalong in Jharkhand’s Chatra.
Those who were killed in the police encounter include Sub-zonal Commanders Amar Gnjhu, Nandu and Sanjeev Bhuiyan, as well as SAC members Gautam Paswan alias Ajit Oraon alias Charlis.
SAC members had a bounty of Rs 25 lakh each while the Sub-zonal commanders had prize money of Rs 5 lakh each on their heads.
SP Rakesh Ranjan has confirmed that five Maoists have been killed while the operation is still on.
Two AK-47, one INSAS, and two regular rifles have also been recovered from the spot, he said.
According to police, the dead bodies of all five Maoists killed in the police encounter have been recovered.
The police said that based on a tip-off that some of the top Maoist commanders have gathered along the jungles under Lawalong Police Station in Chtara along the borders of Palamu, an operation was launched involving a joint team of CoBRA Battalion of CRPF, Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP), and IRB.
During the operation which began at around 9 am on Monday, the Maoists started firing as soon as they were spotted by the security forces.
The forces fired in retaliation killing five of the Maoist commanders.