CRPF bids farewell to slain commando

CRPF today bid farewell to one of its slain commandos who was killed in a Maoist encounter in Chhattisgarh's Naxal-affected Sukma district.
Senior Central Reserve Police Force officials led by Director General K Durga Prasad laid wreaths on the mortal remains of CoBRA commando Laju NS after his body was flown in from Raipur early today.
A resident of Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, Laju, was killed when his patrol team came under heavy attack from Maoists on March 3 in the Naxal hotbed of Dabbamarka in Sukma in south Bastar region.
Laju was a constable rank trooper in the 208th CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), a specially raised jungle warfare combat unit of the CRPF, deployed in Chhattisgah for anti-Naxal operations.

After paying tributes and solemn sounding of the bugle at a forces' camp here, his body was flown to Kerala, a senior official said.
The operation that began on March 1 in the jungles of Sukma was led by CoBRA and also had men from Chhattisgarh Police's District Reserve Group (DRG). In the encounter, three commandos were killed, while 15 others were injured including team commander P S Yadav.
The official said the bodies of two other CoBRA commandos, Fatte Singh and Laxman Purty, have also been sent to their home states of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand respectively.
After a heavy exchange of fire on March 2, the teams engaged in the operation came back to the nearest base at Kistaram police station in Sukma last morning with the help of reinforcements and air support by helicopters.