Bihar border sealed after Gaya encounter with Reds

Ranchi: The Jharkhand Police on Sunday sealed the border that the state shares with Bihar in Chatra district following an encounter between Maoists and CoBRA jawans in Gaya on Sunday morning.
Police said a woman cadre of the CPI(Maoist) was killed in the encounter that took place in a village that lies between Gaya’s Barachatti and Chatra’s Rajpur police stations.
CRPF IG Jharkhand sector Rakesh Kumar Mishra said a joint operation with Bihar police was launched after receiving inputs that Maoists were meeting near the inter-state border.
However, CRPF IG in Bihar Arun Kumar said Jharkhand police did not participate in the operation and it was just informed about the incident after the encounter was over.
A senior official said about 25 Maoists were trying to cross into Jharkhand from Bihar. This information put the state police on high alert.
Security forces of 22 CRPF battalion from Hazaribag and 190 battalion from Chatra have already launched a search operation in the border area. Four additional companies of security forces are likely to be sent soon.
Chatra, Palamu and Hazaribag districts have been alerted following Sunday’s incident.
“The Maoists failed to carry out even a single incident during the Jharkhand assembly elections. We expect them to carry out such attacks during Bihar polls too,” CRPF IG Mishra said, adding that the security forces would not allow them to use Jharkhand’s soil to launch attacks in Bihar.
Chatra SP Surendra Kumar Jha is camping in Rajpur. Mishra also visited the area on Sunday where he took stock of the offensive launched against the invading Maoists.
Another report from Bihar said eight Maoist activists, including a middle ranking commander, were arrested by the police under Konch police station in Gaya district.
The arrests were made from the Punia Bigha hamlet. The arrested rebels, as per the police version, were involved in a number of Naxalite incidents in Gaya and Aurangabad districts including attack on the SAP camp under Goh police station in Aurangabad district and killing of a special police officer and several activists of the TPC, the rival Naxalite outfit.