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Bihar: Insas rifle stolen from Rohtas cop

PATNA: An insas rifle allotted to a police constable, Mantoo Kumar, was stolen from the EVM storeroom at Sasaram in Maoist-infested Rohtas district. This is the second incident of theft of sophisticated weapon from the district in the last two-and-a-half months.


The incident took place on the intervening night of October 15 and 16 when Mantoo was on duty at the EVM storeroom in the heart of Sasaram town.

Mantoo, a native of Maoist-hit Jehanabad district , lodged a formal complaint in this regard with the Sasaram town police station on Wednesday.

SHO of Sasaram town police station Ram Vilas Choudhary said efforts were on to recover the stolen rifle, which is supplied to the security forces only. “A special police team has been formed to raid suspected hideouts of the criminals and the Maoist outfits operating in the region,” Choudhary added.

He, however, refused to share more information on the plea that it would affect the ongoing probe. All top police officers of the district were tight-lipped about the incident. “The members of the special team quizzed the constable, whose negligence led to the theft of the weapon,” the SHO said.

Sources said altogether four constables were deployed at the EVM storeroom. Each constable was assigned six-hour duty schedule. The EVSs were stocked in the storeroom after the elections were over in the district. “The EVMs were kept in the storeroom after the parliamentary elections were over early this year,” an investigating officer said.

Sources said CPI (Maoist) has stepped up its activities on Kaimur plateau in recent months and was trying to re-establish its influence in the region. Top Maoist leaders from Jharkhand have, of late, taken shelter on the plateau due to police action in Jharkhand, sources said.

Earlier on August 2, an insas rifle belonging to a CRPF constable, Dinesh Mathur, was stolen from S-5 coach of Chambal Express between Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction and Sasaram railway station. The incident occurred when Mathur was on way to assume duty at Chatra in Jharkhand from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

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