An assistant commandant of CRPF of Jharkhand died in an encounter in Bajipur in Chattisgarh on Saturday.

S.B.Tirkey, who was posted in the CRPF's 168 battalion, was on road safety duty with his team when Maoists opened fire, killing him and injuring another jawan.

The news of his death spread a pall of gloom in his native village in Simdega district. His family in Ranchi is in shock.

Tirkey’s wife and their teenaged children—an 11-year-old boy and a 2-year- old girl — live in the Dibdih locality of Ranchi. His wife Pushpa Tirkey said that family members of security forces personnel always lived in uncertainty. But she was proud that her husband laid down his life serving the country.

The assistant commandant’s mortal remains is expected to reach Ranchi on Sunday, she said. Family sources said that Tirkey joined CRPF in 2003 and was posted in Chattisgarh in 2018. He had last visited his family during Christmas last year.

Tirkey originally belonged to Kasira Baliajor village under Bolba police station in Simdega district. His father, Stephen Tirkey, has retired from the BSF.

In Lohardaga, another CRPF jawan of the Cobra 203 battalion, Toman Kumar (27), suffered servere injuries following an IED blast at Bulbul forest at Pesrar on Saturday. Kumar was rushed to Ranchi’s Medica Hospital in the evening. A statement issued by the hospital said that the jawan’s left leg below knee was completely blown off.

On Friday, two jawans suffered blast injuries in a similar manner.