Eight Central Reserve Police personnel undergoing in-service training at the Central Training College (CTC) near here were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded around Saturday noon.
According to T. Sekar, Deputy Inspector General and Principal, CTC, the incident happened at 11.50 a.m. when the personnel were engaged in the ‘search and destroy’ operation. Their task was to search and diffuse IEDs.
The IED that was kept on the surface in a safe area exploded before the personnel could diffuse it, causing shrapnel wounds on Assistant Sub Inspectors Shishu Ram Bora, Om Prakash, Kanti Ram, A.K. Karmakar, Bhupat Deen Rajak, Avinash Murmu, Sukhdev Singh and Head Constable Sunil Dutt, who was the training instructor.
Within minutes of the accident, the CTC administration rushed the injured personnel to a private hospital in Coimbatore. Sources in the hospital said that the injured were out of danger.
Mr. Sekar said the incident happened five days before the trainee officers were about to complete their six-week training programme. The IED had RDX and the training was to equip the personnel work in Naxal-affected parts of the country.
Over 450 personnel were drawn from different parts of the country for the training, which was also to help them get promoted as sub inspectors.
A doctor at the hospital said none of the eight personnel had suffered life-threatening injuries, though one of them, Mr. Rajak, had a splinter lodged in the chest region. His condition was being monitored.
The others had splinters in hands and legs, but the injuries were only minor. Mr. Sekar added that the injured personnel, except Mr. Rajak, were likely to be discharged in the next two days.
