Police launch joint operation in Simdega, Gumla to nab 30 Maoists

RANCHI: The state police has launched operations in Simdega and Gumla districts to trace 30-odd Maoists who managed to escape an encounter on Sunday in which Maoist top leader Ashish, alias Ashish Yadav, was killed.
Ashish, member of Maoists' powerful Bihar-Jharkhand special area committee, was moving through the forests with 30-odd Maoists when the CRPF and Gumla police engaged them in a gunbattle in Palkot on the border of Gumla and Simdega districts.
IG operations and police spokesperson M S Bhatia, closely monitoring the operations, said Simdega SP was asked to mobilize the forces in the border areas to plug all possible exit points from Palkot to his district.
Gumla and Simdega both are situated close to Jharkhand-Odisha-Chhattisgarh border region, but Palkot is about 60km from the Chhattisgarh border. "We will not allow the Maoists to take shelter in Simdega," said Bhatia.
The body was left in the jungle where he was killed and by the time the security forces brought the body out of the forest, it was already dark. The place, where the body was lying, was left in a cordon was established by the security forces. "The forces continued to keep a vigil in the entire area throughout the night so that the comrades of the slain Maoist do not take the body away," said Gumla SP Chandan Kumar Jha.
The Chhattisgarh police was informed and requested to increase surveillance along the border. CRPF DG K Durga Prasad and DGP D K Pandey visited the jungle to boost the morale of the jawans who gunned the Maoist leader down. Pandey distributed Rs 4 lakh among the jawans while CRPF DG distributed Rs 1 lakh.
The jawans got an opportunity to get photographs with DGP and CRPF DG, the bosses of the two organizations. Chief minister Raghubar Das has congratulated the state police for the brave act.
IG Bhatia said Ashish's death will destabilize the bomb making capability of the Maoists. "He was an expert in manufacturing improvised explosive devices (IED). The Maoists who do not have any idea about manufacturing the IEDs looked up to him for guidance," said Bhatia.
The Maoists have been using IEDs to attack cops, and in almost all attacks more IEDs are used than fire to target cops.
He had received training in bomb manufacturing in Chhattisgarh and passed on the trade to many. "He also specialized in wireless communication system the Maoist use," Bhatia said.
CRPF director general K Durga Prasad on Monday visited encounter site at Goradih. He met the jawans and officers of CRPF 218 battalion stationed in the district. Prasad also met the district authorities before he left Delhi. Accompanied by state top cops, including IG MS Bhatia, ADG Anurag Gupta and DGP DK Pandey also reached Goradih prior to Prasad.
He asked Maoists to surrender and join the mainstream.