A suspected militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in Jharkhand’s Latehar district in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Palamau deputy inspector-general Rajkumar Lakra told The Telegraph that acting on a tip-off, police along with CRPF jawans started a search operation to flush out rebels in the hilly Nidra forest area of Serak panchayat under Chandwa police station.

“The security personnel had information that TPC (Tritiya Prastuti Committee — a splinter group of CPI-Maoist) activists had gathered in the forest area and were planning to take part in some criminal activities. The search operation was carried out jointly by police and CRPF. In the morning the extremists started firing at the police and in retaliation the police also fired. The encounter lasted for more than an hour after which the rebels fled from the spot taking advantage of the dense forest. Later during the search operation, the police recovered the body of a rebel, an AK-47 rifle, several rounds of ammunition, Naxal literature and food items,” said Lakra.

The slain rebel was identified as self-styled “sub-zonal commander” of TPC, Deepak Yadav, a native of Kasmar in Panki block of Latehar. He was released on bail from jail three months back.

According to police sources, more than 200 rounds of fire was exchanged between the rebels and the security forces during the encounter.

Meanwhile, security forces are continuing the search operation and long-range patrolling in the forest area to flush out the rebels till the filing of this report.

“There had been reports of TPC rebels pasting posters in the area since the last week and threatening contractors to pay levy or face dire consequences. The encounter will send a strong message to the rebels and also instil faith amongst masses,” said a senior police officer.