At Pakur, top cop Amarjit Balihar fought a battle to curb coal theft, fake currency

Amarjit Balihar, Superintendant of Police in Jharkhand's Pakur district, was fighting the menace of frequent coal theft and fake currency rackets in his district. In Balihar's own assessment, as mentioned in Jharkhand Police site, “Pakur is a moderately Naxal affected district with a common law and order problem.” He further worte in his report as the SP that Naxals became active in Pakur area only after the opening of coal mines in...
mid-90s. “Their spread in the area is mainly for the extraction of levy from the coal mines,” he wrote (source: http://jhpolice.gov.in/pakur). But he did not lose his life in his own district. On Tuesday, Balihar and his lean team of bodyguards were ambushed and killed by about 100 Maoists at Kathikund area of Dumka district which is over 350 km from the capital city of Ranchi.
According to reports, Maoists were looking for targets, political leaders and policemen, after many of their men were killed in an operation launched at Palamu jungles by over 3,000 security officers and jawans of the Jharkhand police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The operation began only in June 25.  Balihar was returning to his district after attending a DIG-convened security meet at Dumka town.
The district Dumka where the policemen including the SP lost their lives is surrounded by hills and forests. In fact, popular hill range Ramgarh ki Pahari falls in this district. According to the Dumka SP's own report, which is available in Jharkhand police's official site, “Two naxal armed gangs (15-18) are active in Dumka district”. One is led by Pravil Da alias Hirendra Murmu of Giridih district, and the other gang is led by Ramlal Rai belonging to Kathikund police station in Dumka district. Significantly, Balihar and his men were ambushed at Kathikund area only. It was in September 2010, police and Naxals had a major encounters in the same belt after which 22 Maoists were arrested by police, according to the same report.
Unlike Dumka, Balihar's own district Pakur is only moderately impacted by Naxal activities. The main problems for Balihar during the last couple of months centered around tackling coal theft by locals and fighting the menace of fake currency rackets run by some Bangladeshi immigrants. “After coal extraction, the company (Panem Coal Mines) is transporting the coal in trucks to the nearest Railway station which is 40 km from the Mining area. The local people frequently creates problem by blocking the road to steal coal from this trucks. So there is a frequent road jam in this route, which often creates law and order problem,” wrote Balihar in his report on law and order of his district. But he also added, “The recent killing of social activist Valsa John by Naxal with local support clearly shows that they enjoy popular support in this area.”
Balihar is survived his wife Sumanlata Balihar, two daughters Aprajita (18) and Shalini (15) and son Avinash (12). An alumnus of Ranchi's St Xavier College, Balihar joined Bihar Public Service Commission in 1986, only to be promoted to IPS rank in 2003 because of his excellent service records.