IED event in Jharkand, Gumla District area, India on Wed 18th August 2021

A villager was killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion, allegedly planted by Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) to target Security Forces (SFs), at Judwani forest under Bishunpur Police Station limits in Gumla District of Jharkhand on August 18 night, reports The Times of India. The victim has been identified as Budheshwar Nagesia (45), a resident of Judwani hamlet under Nirasi Panchayat (village level local self-Government institution) of Bishunpur Police Station limits, 75 kilometres from Gumla District headquarters. Nagesia had gone into the forest to graze cattle and collect firewood but was blown up after he stepped on an IED planted in the ground. Gumla Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Manish Chandra Lal, said, “a villager died in an IED blast in Judwani forest,” adding, “this forest region also covers some parts of adjoining Lohardaga district where Maoist ‘zonal commander’ Ravindra Ganjhu's squad [member of the Bihar Jharkhand Regional Committee of CPI-Maoist] is learnt to have planted IEDs to prevent security forces to come after them. But the villagers are falling victim to their design. In the past, a few jawans were also killed and wounded by IEDs.”