Man injured in IED blast while grazing cattle in Chatra

CHATRA: A man sustained grievous injuries while grazing his cattle inside the forests of Chatra district when improvised explosive devices (IED) apparently planted by CPI (Maoists) went off.

The incident happened near Dumaria village under Rajpur police station of the district on Wednesday.

Incidentally, this is the third recent incident of traps apparently planted by CPI (Maoists) causing injuries to civilians in Chatra district. Earlier, a local was injured in a similar explosion on January 14.

In another incident in Latehar district, a woman was killed and one badly injured in a similar blast near Pandara under Garu police station in Latehar district earlier this week.

In the recent incident, the injured was identified as Govardhan Bhokta, a resident of Kotap Dumiya village.

He was grazing cattle in a nearby forest, when the land mine exploded.

Bhokta sustained injuries on his right leg and upper parts of the body.

On getting information, a police team from the local police station rushed to the village and took the injured man to Chatra sadar hospital for treatment. However, doctors referred him to RIMS in Ranchi for better treatment.

Chatra sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Avinash Kumar said, “The injured man is currently undergoing treatment at RIMS in Ranchi. His condition is out of danger. He was injured in a blast from pressure release bomb. We are investigating who were involved in this case.”

The Chatra police also called in a bomb disposal squad to further investigate the incident.