Raipur: A District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawan, who was injured in an encounter with Naxals on Saturday in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, has died, police said. Five Naxals were killed on Saturday in the gun-battle with the DRG in a dense forest area of the district, located about 350 km from the state capital Raipur.
Two DRG jawans, identified as Raju Netam and Somaru Gota, were also injured in the encounter.
"Netam received critical bullet injuries to his vital organs. He succumbed while being evacuated from the forest," Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI on Sunday.
Acting on a specific intelligence input about the location of a Naxal training camp near Dhurbeda village in core area of the Maoist hotbed of Abhujmad, a team of DRG, comprising over 100 personnel, raided the place around 6 am on Saturday, he said.
The gunfight lasted for about an hour, following which the ultras disappeared into the dense forest.
During search, bodies of five ultras were recovered along with a huge cache of weapons, explosives and Maoist documents from the spot, he said.
Garg said bad weather and hostile terrain hampered the evacuation operation as three attempts to airlift the injured personnel from the forest failed due to continuous rainfall in the area.
"The security personnel brought their injured colleagues on cots over their shoulders. They reached Orchha, where the ambulance and doctors were arranged,around 10 pm (nearly 15 hours after the encounter) on Saturday," he said.
While Netam was declared brought dead, Gota was admitted to a private hospital in Raipur where his condition was reported to be out of danger, he said.
The killed ultras were yet to be identified, the official said, adding that prima facie, it seems they belonged to military company no. 1 of Maoists.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.
The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.
The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.
They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.
Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.
