Three cadres of the Peoples Liberation Front of India's (PLFI), a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), including a ‘sub-zonal commander’ identified as Gujju Gope, were killed during an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) in Khunti District of Jharkhand on February 24, reports The Hans India. Gujju had INR one million bounty on his head and was wanted by SFs since long as around 32 cases including murder were registered against him at different Police Stations in the area, Khunti Superintendent of Police (SP) Alok Kumar said. Gujju was also involved in an encounter with the Bano Police in Simdega District of Jharkhand on April 8, 2017, where Police Station in-charge Vidyapati Singh and a SF personnel Toram Biruli lost their lives. After the encounter along with the slain bodies of the rebels, Police recovered arms and ammunition from the encounter site. The identity of the other two cadres were yet to be established.
Meanwhile, SFs recovered at least 17 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), over 200 detonators together with Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE]-related posters from a forest area under Gopikandar Police Station limits in Dumka District of Jharkhand on February 23, reports New Kerala.com. “On Saturday we unearthed the buried Maoist dump with the help of metal detectors during the combing operations. We recovered 17 land mines, of which three were of 10kg each. The remaining weighed up to 5kg each. 200 electric detonators, 1 grenade detonating cord and other explosives were also seized,” Sanjay Kumar Gupta, commandant, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) said.