2 cops injured in encounter near MP’s Bandhavgarh tiger reserve

Five people including two police constables and three alleged dacoits were injured in an encounter between police and a dacoit gang at a jungle lodge adjoining the renowned Bandhavgarh tiger reserve in MP, police said.

The dacoits allegedly belonged to the Babli Kol gang which is active in Satna district in MP and adjoining districts of UP including Chitrakoot and Banda.

Babli Kol, a former member of the Balkhariya Patel gang and carries a reward of Rs 2.50 lakh on his head, managed to escape from the spot.

He is wanted by both the UP and MP police.

IG, Rewa, D Sriniwas Verma told HT that police had learnt about Kol’s presence at the Whispering Grass jungle lodge near Bijaria village.

A police team from Satna went to the lodge on Sunday afternoon but someone from inside fired on the police team.

Two constables, Raghvendra Singh and Rakesh Pandey sustained injuries on their arms and legs.

Police returned the fire in which three people, Indresh, Virendra Pandey and Surya Kumar Chaturvedi were injured. All the injured people have been moved to Jabalpur for treatment.

Police came to know that Babli Kol who was at the resort managed to escape in the melee. Police have detained 17 people from the lodge and are ascertaining their identities.

“There were about 20 people, all of them from UP who were staying at the lodge when police arrived looking for Kol,” said Sriniwas Verma.

He added that search operations had been launched in the area.