RANCHI: A top Reliance executive was shot dead and seven other company officials wounded in a suspected Maoist attack in Chatra district, around 100 km from Jharkhand's capital, on Wednesday.
Reliance Power general manager Manoj Kumar Ojha was killed by teenaged gunmen reportedly in green 'uniforms' while the company's assistant vice-president Hiren Bhujh was shot in the hip near Hesatu village in Chatra. This is the most high profile killing in Jharkhand since the murder of Ashish Dey, a co-owner of Sreeleather, on November 2, 2007.
"The Reliance Power team from Delhi and Mumbai was on inspection tour for a site for the Rs 20,000 crore mega power plant in Telaiya," said a senior Reliance Power official. The executives visited several villages under Tandwa and Simaria police stations in Chatra on Wednesday morning and were on their way back when they were attacked.
Eyewitnesses said two youngsters between 15 and 19 stepped out of the forest and blocked the two vehicles in which the Reliance Power team was travelling. Without warning, they started shooting from rifles from close range, the official said.
The drivers of the two vehicles stepped on the pedal and tried to escape through the hail of bullets. The lead SUV got through but the second one, carrying Ojha and Bhujh, overturned. While Ojha died on the spot, Bhujh took a bullet in the hip and injuries from the crash.
The other wounded officials are Mayank Murari, Devjit Deogharia, I K Singh, R S Yadav, Anil Kumar and I K Rao. The attackers melted into the forest. The company official said none of them had got threats from the Maoists or any splinter or criminal group.
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Reliance Power general manager Manoj Kumar Ojha was killed by teenaged gunmen reportedly in green 'uniforms' while the company's assistant vice-president Hiren Bhujh was shot in the hip near Hesatu village in Chatra. This is the most high profile killing in Jharkhand since the murder of Ashish Dey, a co-owner of Sreeleather, on November 2, 2007.
"The Reliance Power team from Delhi and Mumbai was on inspection tour for a site for the Rs 20,000 crore mega power plant in Telaiya," said a senior Reliance Power official. The executives visited several villages under Tandwa and Simaria police stations in Chatra on Wednesday morning and were on their way back when they were attacked.
Eyewitnesses said two youngsters between 15 and 19 stepped out of the forest and blocked the two vehicles in which the Reliance Power team was travelling. Without warning, they started shooting from rifles from close range, the official said.
The drivers of the two vehicles stepped on the pedal and tried to escape through the hail of bullets. The lead SUV got through but the second one, carrying Ojha and Bhujh, overturned. While Ojha died on the spot, Bhujh took a bullet in the hip and injuries from the crash.
The other wounded officials are Mayank Murari, Devjit Deogharia, I K Singh, R S Yadav, Anil Kumar and I K Rao. The attackers melted into the forest. The company official said none of them had got threats from the Maoists or any splinter or criminal group.
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