Ranchi, September 08: Three Naxalites of the Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC), a breakaway group of the CPI (Maoist), have been arrested after an encounter at Churugarha, about 70 KM from Ranchi, the police said today.
“One of the three arrested Naxalites, identified as Raj Kumar Ganju, is a big catch for the police,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Praveen Kumar, said here.
Ganju was allegedly involved in a number of cases.
The police reached the spot after getting a tip-off that a group of JPC members had assembled at Churugarha to plot a crime last night.
The JPC activists started firing as soon as they spotted the police, triggering a two-hour long gun-battle before the naxalites tried to flee.
The police, however, chased and caught three of them.
Three rifles and some ammunition were seized from their possession, the police super said.
Over 150 bullets were fired by both the sides, he said and claimed that some of the Naxalites had suffered bullet wounds, but they managed to flee.
The JPC, one of the six naxal groups operating in Jharkhand, is active in Ranchi and Gumla districts.
—Agencies