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Midnapore, Oct. 18: The joint forces today launched the first major operation against Maoists in Jungle Mahal since the Mamata Banerjee government came to power nearly five months ago.
Sources in Writers’ Buildings said the operation, based on specific information, in Bankishole forest near Jhargram was to build pressure on the Maoists even as the government urged the rebels to shun violence and come to the talks table.
Today’s raid, involving about 300 jawans of the CRPF, Straco and police, lasted about half an hour. The Maoists shot at the joint forces and they retaliated.
None of the jawans involved in the operation were injured.
Sources said the operation followed specific information that CPI (Maoist) state secretary Akash and action squad leader Jayanta were hiding in the forest, about 15km from Jhargram town, with some of their comrades.
Around 10.30am today, the rebels fired at the joint forces during the raid and an encounter followed.
The encounter continued for half an hour. The joint forces later found a .303 rifle snatch from the police, 10 rounds of ammunition, a detonator and four rucksacks stuffed with clothes.
The last major operation by the joint forces was during the Left Front rule.
On March 10, the joint forces had gunned down top Maoist leader Sasadhar Mahato, the alleged mastermind of the Jnaneswari Express sabotage, in an encounter in West Midnapore’s Jamboni.
Last month, the joint forces had engaged the Maoists in an encounter in Purulia’s Ayodhya Hills. But the Maoists had escaped as soon as the police began firing.
The new government virtually stopped anti-Maoist operations after it assumed power. However, Mamata publicly attacked the rebels after the murder of Jharkhand Janamukti Morcha leader Rabindranath Bose on September 25.
“Today’s raid was the first major operation in the past five months,” a senior police officer said.
The operation began early this morning in Nakrabindha village, the police said.
Residents of the village and neighbouring areas had stayed away from Mamata’s rally in Jhargram on Saturday.
“We received information from our sources that the Maoist leaders were camping in the forest close to Nakrabindha village since last night. We made arrangements and reached the village around 10am today,” a senior police officer said.
The joint forces were led by additional superintendent of police (operations), Alok Kajoria, and sub-divisional police officer, Sumit Kumar.
The forces after reaching the village began searching the homes of supporters of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities.
Police sources said that around 10.30am, the Maoists began shooting at the jawans from a part of the forest on the eastern side of the village. The jawans took their positions and asked the villagers to clear out.
“The shoot-out continued for about half an hour. The Maoists were using sophisticated arms. We are assessing how many rounds were fired,” Jhargram police chief Gaurav Sharma said.
“Our jawans saw at least eight rebels in the forest. However, we feel there were more,” Sharma said.
The police sources said the Maoists stopped firing around 11am. It was then that the joint forces began combing the area. The forces found a .303 rifle and 10 rounds of ammunition, a detonator and four rucksacks stuffed with clothes.
“The rifle had been stolen from the police. We are checking our records to find out from where the rifle was stolen,” a police officer said. “We also have detained three villagers for questioning,” he added.
A villager said the rebels were caught unawares by the raid. “Some of them were bathing in a pond near the village,” he said.
Another police officer said the force had been keeping a watch on the villagers after they stayed away from Mamata’s rally in Jhargram and protested her “failure to keep promises”.
The CRPF today found a directional mine about 2.5km from the Pirakata police outpost, which is about 20km from Lalgarh town.
“Our jawans had gone patrolling in the area and they found the IED among sal trees. Such IEDs are powerful and often used by the Maoists in Andhra Pradesh,” a CRPF officer said.
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