Four Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres were killed in an exchange of fire with a joint team of Security Forces (SFs) comprising Special Task Force (STF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) near Chautha nallah in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) forest bordering Nepal under Laukariya Police Station limits in West Champaran District of Bihar on July 10, reports The Times of India. One Policeman and an SSB Inspector were injured in the gun-battle. The slain Maoists were identified as – Vipul from Muzaffarpur, Kiran, Nakul and Chhotey Sahni alias Suraj, a resident of Valmikinagar. Vipul had been arrested in 2018 for the murder of Champapur-Gonauli Panchayat mukhiya (head of the Panchayat, village level local self-Government institution) Manoj Singh in the VTR region. The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Lallan Mohan Prasad said by the Special Task Force of Bagaha police and the SSB on receiving the inputs about the presence of the Maoists in the forests, the joint operation was launched. “The Maoists were caught unawares and resorted to indiscriminate firing. The security personnel retaliated and four rebels were killed in the encounter,” said a Police official. The SFs also recovered three self-loading rifles (SLRs), an automatic Kalashnikov (AK)-56 one .303 rifle from the encounter spot.
Separately, a group of 15 to 20 armed Maoists abducted two civilians, identified as — Brajnandan Tudu (39) and Arun Rai (36) on July 9 and subsequently killed them by slitting their throat on suspicion of being ‘Police informers’ at Jatatari village under Haveli Kharagpur Police Station limits in Munger District of Bihar on July 10, reports The Times of India. The Maoists also threatened the villagers with dire consequences for being hands in glove with the Police and leaking information about their movement in the region. Their bodies were recovered from Bagel Hills on the outskirts of the village when the family members with the Police started searching for them.