Bhubaneswar/ Chaibasa/ Ranchi, 14 June

A CRPF official was killed in a blast during an anti-Naxal operation at the Odisha-Jharkhand border on Saturday morning, officials said.

ASI Satyaban Kumar Singh, 34, of 134th CRPF battalion, who hailed from Kushinagar in UP, was part of a team that was searching the Saranda forest at the inter-state border for explosives robbed by Maoists from a stone quarry on 27 May, they said.

He sustained injuries on his left leg when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded around 6am near the K Balang village in Odisha's Sundergarh district, they said.

He was taken to a hospital in Rourkela, where he succumbed to the injuries, officials said.

The search operation was being conducted by a joint team of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Odisha Police.

About 5 ton of explosives were robbed from a stone quarry in Sundergar's Banko by Maoists. While three-fourths of the explosives have been recovered so far, the security forces continue their search for the remaining gelatin packets, officials said.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi condoled the death of the CRPF official.

"Deeply saddened to know about the sacrifice of ASI Satyban Singh of CRPF in an IED blast during a combing operation at the Odisha-Jharkhand border. He has set the highest standard of service and courage by sacrificing his life for the security of the country. I pray for the eternal peace of the martyred jawan and express my condolences to the bereaved family," he said in a post on X.

In a statement, the Jharkhand Police said a wreath-laying ceremony will be held at the CRPF's 133 battalion headquarters in Ranchi at 5pm.