How Maoists lured police into a booby trap in Bihar

Last Saturday, SP Baburam received an intelligence input that Maoists from Bihar and Jharkhand had assembled near the Sondaha Pahari forest near Madanpur in Aurangabad. These rebels, owing allegiance to the banned CPI (Maoists), had reportedly assembled under the leadership of most wanted Maoist Sandeep, alias Vijay Yadav alias Bhupesh alias Bade Sarkar, who has more than 80 cases lodged against him in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

The Aurangabad SP, along with the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) men of the CRPF’s 205 battalion and the Bihar Police, launched a manhunt for Sandeep in the jungles, but with little success. It was then decided that four different battalions would launch a combing operation from Monday.

While pursuing the Maoists in the jungle area of Madanpur on Monday, the team relied heavily on GPS positioning and feedback, but failed to take the help of local intelligence. By noon, the Maoists, sitting atop Sondaha hills, knew they had been successful in luring the security personnel into their booby trap.

Two battalions crossed the Dumri Nala. It was when the Maoists saw the third and fourth CRPF contingents passing their territory, they reportedly triggered 35 improvised explosive devices planted over a two-km stretch. A police source said, “Despite carrying detectors, the police could not detect the landmine as they were buried four feet below the surface. The serial explosion resulted in many casualties. The other two CRPF teams returned and fired at the Maoists, killing three of them on the spot.”

The source said many rebels were injured in the counter-attack, which continued till Monday midnight. But the Maoists managed to escape under the cover of darkness and heavy rain.  The serial blasts claimed the lives of 10 jawans, and those injured were rushed to hospitals in Gaya and Patna.

Claiming responsibility for the attack, spokesperson of CPI (Maoist), central zone committee, Paramjeet said, “It’s true that three of our colleagues have been martyred. But we will avenge their killing in the days to come. “The killing of CRPF men in Aurangabad was our token reply to the government’s Operation Green Hunt,” he added.