Ranchi, May 26: Palamu IG Sunil Bhaskar upbeat after series of success in eliminating hardcore ultras in Latehar district by security forces has warned Maoists to either surrender or be prepared to face bullets.
After the arrest of Maoist zonal commander Kundan Kharwar and the killing of sub-zonal commander Manish Yadav in an encounter, Palamu IG, DIG and Latehar SP reached Banskarcha police picket of Mahuadanr in Latehar district on Monday.
Talking to journalists IG Sunil Bhaskar said that Naxalites and other extremists who have separated from the mainstream of society should surrender by taking advantage of the surrender and rehabilitation policy of the government, otherwise they will also be killed.
He informed that police has got this success by running a well-planned operation under the leadership of SP Kumar Gaurav.
DIG Y S Ramesh said that Kundan was in the organization for the last 10-12 years. A total of 27 cases are registered against him. At the same time, 40 cases are registered against Manish Yadav in various police stations of Latehar, Palamu, Garhwa and Chhattisgarh.
He also informed that both were involved in the Katia encounter in the year 2013. Ten police personnel were martyred in this. Apart from this, during the 2019 elections, the Maoists attacked the police team in Lukiya of Chandwa, in which four policemen were martyred. In 2018, the police camp in Bhandaria was attacked by Maoists, in which six security personnel were martyred. Both of them were also involved in that incident.
Incidentally, Manish Yadav carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was arrested and another Maoist was killed in an overnight encounter with security forces at Douna village in the Netarhat area of Jharkhand’s Latehar district.
Latehar police said they had been receiving consistent intelligence inputs about the movement of Kundan Singh Khairwar, a zonal commander of the banned CPI (Maoist), in the Mahuadanr and Netarhat areas. Acting on a tip-off on June 25, a police raiding team was formed under the leadership of Mahuadanr Sub-Divisional Police Officer Shivpujan Baheliya and officers-in-charge of Barhesandh and Mahuadanr police stations.
An officer said that as the team moved in, the Maoists opened fire on the security forces, to which the latter retaliated. “In the ensuing encounter, the Maoists, unable to withstand the pressure, began fleeing. One of them, later identified as Kundan Singh Khairwar alias Sudhir Singh, was captured with arms,” he said.
During the search operation security forces recovered the body of a Maoist was recovered, police said.
“He was identified as Manish Yadav, alias Manish Ji, a sub-zonal commander from Gaya, Bihar,” said the officer.
