Police kill Maoist Area commander in Jharkhand

Namkum (Jharkhand), August 1, (ANI): The Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) killed a so-called Maoist Area Commander in the Namkum block of Ranchi District on Sunday.

According to the police, they received information that a group of Maoists would pass through the Heso jungle in the Namkum area and engaged them in an encounter.

In the encounter, the police killed Rajesh Munda, an important member of the banned outfit.

Arms and ammunition were also recovered after the encounter.

"At the time of ambush at around 4.15 am, we heard some noise of around 10-15 people passing by. We asked them to stop, so, they started firing. So, we also fired in our self-defence. The firing continued for almost one hour. From the police's side, we fired around 100-200 rounds and from the Maoists' side, they fired around 200-300 rounds," said Satyendra Narain, Officer In-charge, Namkum police station, Ranchi.

"When they escaped after one hour, we started the search operation in the area.

During the search operation we found a dead body. That time we were unaware of the identity but later we received information that he was Rajesh Munda, the area commander of Namkum area," said Narain.

Maoist attacks have become more frequent this year, especially after the government launched a coordinated security offensive involving tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel trying to flush out the rebels from their jungle hideouts in central and eastern Indian states. By Girija Shankar Ojha (ANI)