CRPF officer killed by lightning while conducting anti-Naxal op

JAMSHEDPUR: A senior officer of the CRPF was killed while three others, including another officer, were injured in a lightning strike during an anti-Maoist operation in the Saranda forests of Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum late Thursday.

This is the first lightning-related death of a commandant-rank officer in the Maoist-hit district.

The deceased officer was identified as M Prabo Singh (46), a native of Manipur’s Imphal West district. He was the second in command (2-IC) leading the joint operation that was being carried out by the paramilitary force and the district police. The injured were identified as CRPF assistant commandant Subir Kumar Mandal from Bengal, and Jharkhand natives ASI Chandlal Hansda and Suresh Bhagat, police said.

Singh died on the way to the hospital. On Friday morning, the wounded trio was airlifted to Ranchi.

“The security personnel were conducting a combing operation in the Maoist hotbed of the Baliba forest stretch when heavy rain, coupled with thunder and lightning, suddenly started. Their evacuation to the hospital from the CRPF outpost took some time as rain hampered the quick rescue efforts,” West Singhbhum SP Ashutosh Shekhar said.

Senior CRPF and police officers paid homage to Singh at CRPF’s 157 Battalion headquarters in Adityapur on Friday evening in the presence of his wife and son.