Naxal encounter, seven nabbed

After nearly four hours of encounter with Naxals last evening, the Special Task Force (STF) jawans arrested seven Maoists including a woman from the dense forests of Jamui and recovered a 10-kg landmine from the area.

The encounter took place at Dumma village in Chihra forests of Jamui, nearly 180 kilometers from Patna, when a joint team of STF, district police and Special Auxillary Police (SAP) jawans were on a combing operation to search for the six employees of a Kolkata-based private construction company, who were abducted by Maoists on Tuesday night.

According to sources, the Maoists, nearly 100 in number, attacked the police team by first triggering off three landmine blasts and later opening fire. In retaliation, the police team also fired and the encounter ensued for nearly four hours. Altogether seven Naxals were arrested by the police force. "There was no casualty from the police side, but some of the Naxals sustained injuries in the police action. However, the Maoists managed to flee inside the dense jungle", said Munger DIG Amit Kumar and Jamui SP Rakesh Rathi, who were on the spot.

ADG (Headquarters) Neelmani said seven persons, including a woman, had been arrested for their involvement in the attack. A 10-kg landmine was also recovered from the area.

The police were on a combing mission in search of the abducted employees, when the Maoists triggered off blasts. The ultras had abducted six employees of Subhash Project Marketing Limited (SPML), the construction company engaged in construction of road from Deoghar to Chakai in Jamui district.

The employees were abducted from the project site of the company located near Hariandhi village under Chandramundi police station. The abducted victims include five security guards of the company and a generator operator.

The joint team of STF, SAP and Jamui district police had begun the search operation on Thursday in forest areas from Sono, Chakai and Chandramundi in Jamui district. According to police sources, the state police authorities had contacted their counterpart in Jharkhand yesterday for undertaking a coordinated search operation in forest areas falling under Giridih and Deoghar districts in Jharkhand and Jamui district within the state.

The DIG said the group of extremists involved in the abduction has been identified. He confirmed search operation for the recovery of the victims had also started from Giridih end.

The extremists had demanded levy from the construction company. The police suspected the victims might have been abducted by the extremists for extracting ransom for their release.