Assam Jawan killed in Jharkhand encounter with Maoists; CM Sarma pays tribute

Guwahati/Bokaro, July 16: A CRPF jawan from Assam’s Kokrajhar district was killed in a fierce gunfight with Maoists in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district on Wednesday morning.

Parneswar Koch, who was part of the CRPF’s elite CoBRA battalion, lost his life during an encounter in the Birhordera forest under Gomia police station limits around 5.30 am.

Two Maoists were also gunned down in the operation, police officials said.

Condoling the jawan’s death, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma paid tribute to Koch and called him a “braveheart” who laid down his life in service of the nation.

“The people of Assam salute his sacrifice and offer our thoughts and prayers to his family. We will always be there to support them and this sacrifice will not go in vain as our forces unleash their power to eliminate naxalism from the face of the earth,” Sarma wrote on a micro-blogging site.

Inspector General (Bokaro Zone) Kranthi Kumar Gadidesi confirmed the deaths and said a search operation was ongoing in the area.

Bokaro SP Harvinder Singh said the identity of the slain Maoists was yet to be confirmed.

The encounter is part of intensified anti-Naxal operations under Operation Sankalp, the Centre’s large-scale crackdown on left-wing extremism.

The mission, which involves over 24,000 security personnel from CRPF, CoBRA, state police forces and specialised units, aims to eliminate Naxal activity by March 31, 2026.

Koch’s death has cast a pall of grief over his hometown in Kokrajhar.

With inputs from PTI