Jharkhand: Naxals plant IED inside body of CRPF jawan

Maoists had surgically inserted an improvised explosive device inside the body of a Central Reserve Police Force jawan who was killed three days ago in an ambush in Jharkhand's Latehar district.

Doctors conducting the autopsy of the CRPF trooper at a government hospital in Ranchi were shocked when they found a 1.5 kg unexploded bomb stitched inside the abdomen of 29-year-old Constable Babulal Patel, who was among those killed in the encounter with Maoists.

Jharkhand Director General of Police G S Rath said the body of Patel with the IED implanted in it was recovered by patrol squads on Wednesday evening from near the encounter site. The post-mortem was scheduled for Thursday morning.

"The doctors became suspicious when they saw the body of the CRPF jawan. The bomb disposal squad was then called and the body was placed in an open field," said Rath.

Later, the IED was defused by the bomb squad, a senior CRPF official said.

"The IED was a pressure bomb prototype which explodes on being disturbed," he said.

Thirteen people -- nine CRPF personnel, one personnel from the state's special anti-Maoist force Jharkhand Jaguars and three civilians -- were killed in the encounter on January 7.

Maoist rebels had also planted explosives underneath the bodies of the jawans, which exploded when other personnel went to retrieve them.

Patel hailed from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.