Maoists decamp with huge cache of explosives in Jharkhand

RANCHI: Amid claims made by the government that Maoist incidents have gone down, a squad of the CPI (Maoists) decamped with huge amounts of explosives and detonators from a godown of a private firm that supplies explosives for mining activities in Jharkhand.

The incident took place near Parambaljori village in the jungles of Kolhan under Noamundi police station in West Singhbhum a week after Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that the incidents involving Maoist violence have come down by 76%, from the peak in 2010 while the loss of lives has also come down by 78%.

The operation was executed on Thursday, when Ram Navami was celebrated with great fervour across Jharkhand and the entire police force was busy maintaining law and order. The police said a group of around 30 Maoists swooped over the godown around 10 pm and decamped with an unspecified number of explosives and detonators after overpowering the guard deployed there.

“There were two units of the company located around 1.5 km, where private guards were deployed by the company. The Maoists first overpowered the guards and took away whatever stocks were available there,” said the SP.

As per the company staff, there were around 500 electric detonators and 6,500 non-electric detonators in the godown, but the exact number could be known only after getting details of the stock register of the company. “The process of lodging an FIR is on and will be registered after determining the exact number of stocks available there,” said the SP.