Tag: CoBRA commando

  • CRPF officer, jawan injured in IED blast carried out by Naxals in Bihar

    By PTI

    PATNA: A CRPF officer belonging to its CoBRA commando unit was critically injured along with a jawan after Naxals triggered an IED blast in a forest in Bihar’s Gaya district on Friday, officials said.

    Assistant Commandant Vibhore Kumar Singh suffered serious injuries in both his legs in the blast that took place in the Chakrabandha forest, about 100 km from here.

    Head Constable Surendra Singh was also injured in the improvised explosive device (IED) blast.

    The Maoists also believed to have fired on the patrol team of the 205th Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), they said. The incident took place around 5 pm.

    The security personnel accompanying the injured are trying to evacuate them to the nearest road head as a rescue chopper could not land due to darkness, they said.

  • CoBRA commando abducted by Naxals after Bijapur gunfight released

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI/RAIPUR: A CoBRA commando abducted by Naxals after the recent Bijapur ambush in Chhattisgarh was released on Thursday, official sources said.

    They said constable Rakeshwar Singh Manhas of the 210th Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was freed by the Maoists after a team of two eminent people, including a person from the tribal community, was nominated by the state government to secure his release.

    The jawan who hails from Jammu is being brought to the Tarrem camp of the Central Reserve Police Force located in Bijapur, a senior officer of the paramilitary said.

    Twenty-two security personnel were killed while 31 others were injured in the deadly ambush that took place on April 3 along the Bijapur-Sukma district border.

  • Kin of CRPF jawan abducted by Naxals stage protest in J-K, demand assurance for his safe release

    By PTI
    JAMMU: Relatives of a CoBRA commando held hostage by Naxals after a recent gun battle with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district blocked the Jammu-Poonch highway on Wednesday, demanding an assurance from the government for his safe release.

    “He is the responsibility of the government, which should take immediate action to ensure his safe return to us. We want the government to inform us about the action it is taking for his release,” Meenu, wife of abducted jawan Rakeshwar Singh Minhas, said in a fervent appeal from the protest site.

    Thirty-one jawans were injured while CoBRA commando Minhas, belonging to its 210th battalion, went missing after the gunfight that took place along the Bijapur-Sukma border on Saturday and was stated to have been taken hostage.

    ALSO READ | Maoists in Chhattisgarh release image of abducted CoBRA commando

    Twenty-two personnel from various security forces like the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) of the Central Reserve Police Force, its Bastariya battalion and those from the District Reserve Guard and STF of the Chattissgarh Police were killed in the ambush.

    In Jammu, dozens of relatives and neighbours of Minhas took to the streets and blocked the main road outside his Burnai residence on Wednesday, raising slogans of “Bring back our hero”, “Long live India” and “Shoot the traitors of the nation”.

    Officials said a police party was at the scene trying to persuade them to allow normal movement of traffic, which had to be diverted to another route.

    A purported statement released by the Maoists on Tuesday claimed that they have abducted a jawan during the gun battle in Bijapur and sought nomination of some mediators for his release.

    Asked about the statement, Meenu questioned the central government’s “silence” on the issue.

    “If a jawan is late to report to duty by just one day after leave, action is taken against him, but here he is missing since Saturday and nobody is bothered,” she said.

    She added that not a word had been received from the government or the CRPF, and whatever information they had was through the media.

    Demanding an assurance from the government for her husband’s safe release, Meenu said, “We are concerned about his safety.

    The Naxals made a claim and also came out with a written statement, and now the government should look for a mediator to bring him back.”

    “We do not have any source or approach to reach out to the Naxals. We can only make a request for his release,” she said, as her five-year-old daughter, Shragvi, stood dumb-struck nearby.

    The jawan’s younger brother, Sumit, also appealed to the government to act fast.

    “We request the government not to waste any time and bring him back. He is not on any foreign land like (Wing Commander) Abhinandan Varthaman, who returned home from Pakistan within 60 hours,” he added.

    National president of NSUI, the student wing of the Indian National Congress, Neeraj Kundan visited the family members along with J&K Congress vice-president and former minister Raman Bhalla on Monday, and facilitated a telephonic conversation between them and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

    “I want to talk to my son. Please bring him back,” Minhas’s mother Kunti Devi, a CRPF jawan’s widow, had then told Baghel.