A day after chief of Jharkhand-based criminal outfit Pahadi Cheetah, Dilip Sahu (27), was killed in an exchange of fire with Sundargarh police in a forest near Bamdera village under Bargaon police limits, security forces in the district and neighbouring Sumdega in Jharkhand have been put on high alert.
Personnel of CRPF and District Voluntary Force have been deployed at vulnerable border pockets under Talsara, Hathibari, Birmitrapur and Raiboga police limits considering possible retaliatory action by the Pahadi Cheetah gang. Simdega police are also carrying out preventing measures in the other side of the borer. Sahu was responsible for 31 murders in both Jharkhand and Sundargarh.
On May 7, the gang’s second-in-command Arjun Sahu (20) was bumped off by Sundargarh police while members Dilip Sahu and Sushil Dubey were killed in February.
Rourkela-based IGP (WR) RK Sharma said Dilip was one of Jharkhand’s most wanted criminal and it was a massive setback to the ‘pseudo’ Maoist outfit.
Sources in Simdega said the leadership of the crippled gang might be taken over by either Lele or Patric to prevent desertion by demoralised members of the gang. Police apprehend the outfit may kill some innocent villagers to make its presence felt.
Simdega SP Prabhat Kumar said adequate measures have been taken to prevent them from regrouping. He said stress is being laid on community policing to restore confidence in villagers and help track the criminals.
Sources said Simdega police has only one company of CRPF and are not able to guard all vulnerable pockets even if the outfit has strong presence there.
Sundargarh SP Sanjeev Arora has not ruled out possibility of retaliation from the outfit.
He claimed that Sundargarh police have strong intelligence network to hand out more bitter pills if the gang tries to strike again in Odisha side of the border.
Meanwhile, a sense of relief has returned among the victims of extortion and a sizable rural population in border areas.
Villager Santosh Tete appreciated the police action after four villagers were gunned down on April 16 night at three villages under Talsara police limits.