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Left-wing extremists have killed a former member of the Maoist group on suspicion of him being a police informer in Jharkhand. The incident occurred in the Saranda forest area when Nelson Bhengara, a former member of the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist), was forcibly taken to a nearby field by the armed cadres of the Maoist outfit when the former was heading towards his work place.
According to media reports, the extremists assaulted Bhengara black and blue before shooting him three times from close range. The insurgents have also left pamphlets on the spot, alleging Bhengara of passing information to the police.
Bhengara was active in the Maoist outfit till last year and was nabbed by the security forces during an operation in neighbouring Odisha in May 2023. He was released from jail only a couple of months ago following which he started working as a night guard at a private firm.
It is to be noted that this is not the first time that the extremists have killed a civilian after alleging him of spying for the security forces in Jharkhand, and such incidents have been coming to the fore from the Maoist-infested regions at regular intervals.
Earlier in another such incident, a former vice village head was also killed by the extremists in West Singhbhum district itself in December last year. The incident had occurred in the Gudri area of Chaibasa, and the deceased was identified as Kamal Purti.
It was then reported that the extremists had also left a leaflet near the body of the deceased, in which they alleged Purti to be a police informant.
In another incident reported from Dauna village under the Netarhat police station in Latehar in Jharkhand, armed cadres of the banned Maoist outfit barged into the house of Deva Prajapati (45) and mercilessly beat him to death, alleging him of being a police informer in July last year.
Prajapati was working as a daily wage trekker at Palamu Tiger Reserve on a contractual basis. His work involved patrolling the forest region of Bareysanar range.
Security forces destroyed IED in Chaibasa
Meanwhile, the security forces in a separate operation launched in Chaibasa unearthed and destroyed an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Wednesday, January 10.
According to the information shared by the Chaibasa police, a joint team of security forces comprising of personnel from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Jharkhand Jaguar (JJ) and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) had launched a search operation in the forest area of Musaffil police station limits, where they recovered and destroyed an IED, weighing 5kg.
It is worth mentioning that the security forces launch regular search operations in the Maoist-infested regions of the State with an aim to further dent the already-shaken banned group. It is to be noted that the war against the left-wing insurgents is considered to be in the final stages in the State after security forces in recent years have managed to gain control of a number of areas earlier considered core zones of the extremists.
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