CRPF soldier, Maoist killed in encounter in West Midnapur
West Midnapur: A soldier of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a Maoist were killed during an encounter at Bandarboni village in West Bengal's West Midnapur district on Saturday. A 9-mm pistol, a mobile phone, some
landmines, blank bullet cartons, wires and splinters were recovered from the area
after the Security Forces in a joint operation raided the Maoists. According to
Superintendent of Police, Jhargram, Praveen Tripathi, the operation was led by the
184 Battalion of the CRPF along
with the Jhargram district police and the paramilitary Cobra Force. He informed
that the joint forces, following a tip that a group of Maoists were planning an
attack, reached Bandarboni area to nab them. "At night, through a source we got
the information that Shashidhar Mahato and 10 to 15 Maoists of his group have
taken shelter in Bandarboni area. They were planning to attack some place. So,
accordingly we planned the operation, including our district police and Cobra
force, along with 184 battalion of the CRPF," said Tripathi. "The Force reached
there at night and when they were trying to surround the village from all the
directions, the Maoists fired at the soldiers. Our forces also fired back at them
and the gun battle continued at least for two-and-a-half hours. At five in the
morning, when this battle came to a halt, we started a search operation and in
that we recovered a body of an unknown Maoist," he added. Tripathi also said that
during the operation, one of the soldiers was fatally injured. He died on the
spot. "One of our soldiers, D. Stephen, was martyred during the operation. He
belongs to Manipur," said Tripathi.
