ranchi security forces claimed to have killed nine maoists including subzonal commander basant yadav in an encounter in latehar district early on fridaybasant was a subzonal commander of the koelsankh zone and was wanted in over a dozen cases he was involved in the july 16 2010 attack on latehar sp kuldeep dwivedi in which five jawans were killed palamu dig laxman prasad singh said on the other hand a senior maoist leader said therere no casulaties on their side basant had been expelled from the party for extortion a couple of years ago he addedpolice said the bodies of the maoists had been recovered from the site they also claimed to have found five rifles three pistols an slr and over 200 cartridges there acting on a tipoff security forces carried out an operation in the luhur forest under barwadih police station around midnight they surrounded a thatched hut where two rebels were on sentry duty around 1230 am the rebel sentries opened fire when the security forces asked them to lay down their arms on hearing the gunshots other maoists rushed out this was followed by by a fierce encounter between the two sides the dig said the rebels reportedly fired about 450 rounds while the security forces retaliated with around 400 shots the encounter police said continued till 4 am singh said the maoists were planning to make basant commander of the koel sankh zone most of the slain maoists were in plainclothes he added some maoist literature cellphones first aid kits jungle warfare books posters and pamphlets were found inside the hut which was partially damaged during the encounter speaking to toi on the phone paramjeet spokesman for the maoists madhya zonal committee said the people involved in the encounter were followers of basant who was removed from the party two years ago police may claim success for killing the armed outlaws but they should not be linked them to the cpimaoist because their leader was removed from the party a long time ago he added paramjeet said basant was individualistic and found guilty of extortng money from innocent people in the name of the cpi maoist ours is a democratic party where there is no place for individuals and whoever wants to hijack the party under individual influence is punished by janata adalats he addedparamjeet said we want factions like jharkhand liberation tigers tritiya prastuti committee jharkhand prastuti committee and people liberation front of india to understand the politics being played by state forces he addedthe security forces use these groups to weaken our organisation and then kill them calling them maoists