Jharkhand’s most-wanted Maoist leader injured in police ambush

Jharkhand’s Additional Director of Police (Operations) Anil Palta confirmed that it was indeed Arvindji’s team that had come under fire in an operation undertaken early on Friday. The Maoist source said that Arvindji was moving to Latehar from Chhattisgarh via Gumla. The encounter,  which lasted for three hours according to the police, took place almost right on the Gumla-Latehar border; policemen were unable to decide even late into the evening which police station limits the area falls under.

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The state police holds Arvindji responsible for almost all major operations by the CPI-Maoist in the Palamu region and Chotanagpur Plateau in the last two years. One of the last ideologues of the Bihar-Jharkhand region, Arvindji retains the ability to motivate cadres and plan spectacular attacks. Security personnel were on his pursuit in January 2013 when they were ambushed in Latehar: the incident, in which 10 personnel died, is best remembered for the incident when Maoists placed IEDs within the abdomen of fallen jawans.

ADG Palta said that the police had recovered 13-14 horses and four bikes along with several IEDs from the ambush site. “One of the bikes had blood stains on it…. A local resident told us the Maoists made him help an injured comrade.” Arvind, who has a limp, uses horses and bikes to get around.