A group of around 25 Maoists, including women cadres, blocked the road with a truck at Udna More and fired on the transit van ferrying prisoners including Maoists back to jail from court, and the escorting police car, Deputy Superintendent of Police Shatrughan Razzak told reporters here.
"The two vehicles hit a wall under the hail of fire from the Maoists with three policemen and a prisoner killed in the attack," he said.
DGP G S Rath said that there were 32 prisoners in all, eight of them being Maoists.
"All the eight Maoists fled. One of the remaining 24 prisoners died, one was injured while two returned to jail on their own," Rath told PTI in Ranchi.
The six injured policemen, including a woman constable, were hospitalised.
Six bombs which failed to explode were recovered from the spot, the DSP said.
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According to Jail Superintendent A Choudhary, the 32 prisoners were taken to court for production, of whom eight were Maoists.
The Maoists prisoners were Baijanth Tiwari, Ramesh Mandal, Mithilesh Mandal, Nimchand Mahto, Sahedeo Soren, Bipin Mandal, Chotka Marandi and Panstosh Hembram, he said.
"Two prisoners, Ramesh Sao and Sanjay Verma returned to the jail on their own," he said.