The Chhattisgarh police have lost 12 personnel in two major Maoist attacks in the last 72 hours. However, the chain of events leading to both the incidents shows that all lives could have been saved had the police followed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and some basic guidelines while operating in these hostile areas.
According to a jawan, injured in Monday’s IED blast in Dantewada district, his team comprised only 12 men and they were going towards Kirandul town to “fetch ration.”
If the injured jawan is to be believed, there was no road-opening party with them and the jawans were “over confident” while moving in an Anti-Landmine Vehicle in an area known to be a Maoist bastion. In Saturday’s Sukma attack, the ambush was so “plotted” that it began with the first information delivered to STF platoon Commander Shankara Rao.
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“The ambush had started when Shankara Rao was given misleading information about Maoist presence near Pidmed. The information was so enticing that Shankara Rao decided to move with only 49 men to the south of Dornapal without any back-up,” said Bastar range Inspector General of Police (IGP) S.R. Kalluri. According to constable Ranjeet Kumar, injured in the attack, the ambush was spread over more than three km. and his team was attacked thrice.
“All 49 jawans could have been killed on Saturday. They were saved as some of them were locals and knew the terrain,” said a senior police officer.