A CRPF jawan was killed in an IED blast during an anti-Naxal operation in the dense Saranda forest near the Odisha-Jharkhand border on Saturday, officials said.
The martyred jawan, Assistant Sub-Inspector Satyavan Kumar Singh, hailed from Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, and was part of the CRPF’s 134th battalion. He was engaged in a joint operation with the Odisha Police, Jharkhand Police, and CRPF to locate and recover explosives allegedly looted by Maoists.
According to officials, the operation was launched in the wake of a Maoist raid near a stone quarry in Sundergarh district of Odisha on May 27, during which the ultras reportedly seized a cache of explosives.
While the joint forces were combing the forest, a hidden Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonated, fatally injuring ASI Singh. He was evacuated to a hospital in Rourkela in critical condition, where he succumbed to his injuries, the CRPF said.