2 cops injured in Maoist attack in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga

Two Jharkhand police personnel were on Friday injured in a grenade attack triggered by suspected Maoists in Lohardaga district. Following this, an encounter erupted between security forces and the Maoists.

The incident occurred at around 12 noon at Peshrar block under Sereingdag police station area.

The two injured cops - Upendra Singh, 52, of district police and Anjani Kumar Pandey, 45, of special auxiliary police (SAP) - were airlifted and shifted to Ranchi’s Medica hospital for treatment.

While Singh received bullet injury on his right thigh, Pandey got injured by grenade splinters.

DGP MV Rao visited Medica hospital in the evening to meet the injured personnel.

“The incident occurred when Maoists attacked a police patrolling party through grenades. The forces also retaliated. While one jawan received bullet injury, another got injured by splinters. They are out of danger. After rescuing and evacuating our forces, we have launched a search operation in the entire area,” said IG (operation) Saket Singh.

Maoist sub-zonal commander Ravindra Ganjhu, who carries an award of Rs 15 lakh on his head, and his team were reported to have sprung a surprise attack by triggering grenade blast when security forces were returning from patrolling.

They also opened fire to attack the forces. In the encounter that ensued, two Maoists reportedly received injuries.

Following the incident, police lodged FIR against Ganjhu and 49 others with the Sereingdag police station.