The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted searches at seven locations in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal pertaining to the killing of police personnel and looting of their arms and ammunition by Naxals on June 14, 2019, in Jharkhand’s Saraikela district.

The agency conducted these searches at the premises of suspects that included four locations in the district Seraikela-Kherswan and one in the district Ranchi of Jharkhand; one in the district Munger of Bihar and one in district Puruliya of West Bengal. The anti-terror agency claimed to have seized digital devices and various incriminating documents during these searches.

The case pertains to the attack on the police party by the cadres of CPI (Maoist) or Naxals on June 14, 2019, at Kukru Haat in district Saraikela-Kherswan, in which five police personnel were killed and their arms and ammunition were looted.

The case was initially registered on June 15, 2019, at Tiruldih police station in Saraikela-Kherswan, Jharkhand and re-registered by the NIA on December 9, 2020.

During the course of investigations, the NIA said it surfaced that the “suspected persons are members of CPI(Maoist), a proscribed terrorist organization, and were working as Over Ground Workers of CPI (Maoist)”.

“They are suspected to be involved in providing arms, ammunition, explosive materials and other logistic support to the armed cadres of CPI(Maoist),” NIA said.

“It was also revealed during investigations that they were part of a criminal conspiracy hatched by the armed cadres of CPI (Maoist) for the commission of the instant crime,” the agency added.

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