SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Feb 5: Dhanbad police and 154 battalion of CRPF recovered two improvised explosive device (IED) bombs, allegedly planted by Maoists in the remote Ganeshpur village under Topchanchi police station, around 35 km away from here.
Suresh Munda, the officer-in-charge of Topchanchi police station said that after getting a tip-off, the joint team of district police and CRPF searched the village and recovered two IED bombs of around 10-kg each planted on a rough road near Madhukatta Basti in the evening of Friday.
“Both the bombs were defused timely after recovery and search operation is on in the region,” said officer-in-charge Suresh Munda.
The police official admitted that Maoists had planted the bombs on the road to inflict harm to police and CRPF personnel engaged in search operations against members of the banned organization in the region. He said that each bomb was planted at a distance of 300 metres on the rough road leading to the basti.
Within a week, this is the second time that police have recovered IED bombs in the district. Earlier on January 28, the police had recovered two can bombs planted by Maoists in a village under Maniyadih police station of Tundi block, around 30 km away from Dhanbad district headquarters.
Topchanchi and Tundi blocks of Dhanbad district are considered as Maoist dens due to their geographical situation; especially the presence of dense forest and hilly terrain helps the members of the banned organization.
For combating Maoists’ menace, the 154 CRPF battalion has been deployed in the region permanently. Both the blocks are the border areas of Maoist affected Giridih district.
Since Maoists had blown up mobile towers, bridge, water tank and railway tracks in Giridih during their ‘Resistance Week’ from January 21 to 26 and Jharkhand –Bihar 24 hours bandh on January 27, the Dhanbad police and CRPF have launched special search operations in Tundi and Topchanchi.
