Zeenews Bureau

Ranchi: In a shocker, the Maoists planted an explosive device inside the body of a jawan they had killed in an encounter in Latehar district of Jharkhand three days ago.

Doctors at the Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), for whom post-mortem surgeries are usual, were shocked and disgusted at the inhuman treatment that was meted out to the body of the 29-year-old CRPF constable Babulal Patel, senior paramilitary officials said.

"The doctors were shocked to see that Patel`s vital organs like intestines and spleen were taken out to create a cavity to place the 1.5kg unexploded bomb. The Naxals had done a very clean vertical stitching after carrying out the inhuman act on the body of our trooper who hailed from Allahabad," a senior official said.

The bomb disposal squad of the state police was so perplexed at the concealed circuit of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that they had to call the experts of the NSG based in Gurgaon near Delhi to defuse it, officials said.

Once both (state police and NSG) the sides talked and discussed about the IED circuit, sources said, the bomb was defused in an open field in the RIMS premises.

“An explosive device was seen planted in one of the bodies,” Jharkhand DGP JS Rath told a news channel.

The IED was of 8X10 inch size, the DGP added.

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

The January 7 encounter in the forests of Latehar district resulted in the killing of 14 people, nine CRPF personnel, one personnel from the state`s special anti-Naxal force `Jharkhand Jaguars` and four civilians.

The Maoists also looted two AK-47 rifles, one INSAS and 2 Israel made X-95 assault rifles after the encounter.

Four bodies of jawans had gone missing from the scene of the encounter and were recovered 24 hours later. The body in which the explosive was found was one among them.

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

The bomb inside the body points to the change in the tactics by the ultras. They now want to spread terror even among the doctors treating the jawans.

With Agencies inputs