Ranchi, Jan. 22: Chief minister Arjun Munda today said Maoists used the pretext of an agitation by villagers to lure unsuspecting policemen into a trap that left 13 dead in Garhwa yesterday, as director general of police G.S. Rath admitted that the incident revealed lack of awareness on the part of the district police.
Going ahead with his prescheduled plan to inspect roads and government schemes in Naxalite-hit Chaibasa today, Munda said yesterday's attack showed that the Maoists were resorting to new ways to corner and kill security personnel. In Garhwa, they connived with villagers to orchestrate yesterday's killings.
Hinting at a conspiracy by Bargarh mukhiya Ramdas Minz, on whose insistence the Bhandaria BDO made the fateful trip to the village yesterday with the police party, the chief minister said the mukhiya had agitated against the construction of a health centre earlier as well. "So when he asked the BDO to come and resolve the same issue again, the administration should have suspected a trap," he said.
Maintaining that operations against Maoists would be intensified, the chief minister claimed the Garhwa attack was in retaliation to the reversals the rebels had faced in nearby Saryu forests of Latehar, where the police had set up a camp.
Yesterday's incident was the second such in Palamau in the recent past. On December 3, rebels triggered a landmine blast on Mahuadanr-Daltonganj road, killing eight policemen escorting Chatra MP Inder Singh Namdhari.
"It needs to be seen why the police are not being careful enough," Munda said, even as he expressed full confidence in SPs of Daltonganj and Garhwa, Anup T. Mathew and Michael Raj S.
DGP Rath, however, was more cutting in his criticism.
"There was a clear input from the special branch that Maoists could trigger landmine blasts in the area and still Bhandaria police station officer in charge Rajbali Chowdhary did not take it seriously. He had also arrested the mukhiya earlier on a theft case. So, he should have apprehended trouble," the DGP said. Chowdhary was among those killed.
Rath added that the OC should have avoided taking his men with him and instead used forces stationed at Bargarh.
Highlighting the lack of preparedness of the security personnel, Rath said the men inside the anti-landmine vehicle were not wearing helmets or seatbelts.
The DGP, however, denied that safety guidelines were not being followed in toto at the ground level. "There have been attempts to lure the police into traps in Khunti and Chaibasa, but they have avoided them," he said.
"Sometimes one mistake turns out to be fatal. So, when there is a lapse, it is a lapse," he maintained.
Sources in the state police headquarters, however, said the two successive incidents exposed that there was little control over the movement of security forces despite strict instructions. "Movement of forces should be monitored by the SPs concerned," an officer said, adding that the SPs were under immense pressure and often could not take independent decisions.
The Garhwa SP, however, denied that he was under any pressure.
Sources said the decision to send forces to Garhwa-Bargarh road without sending a "road opening party" could always be questioned.
"If the men are killed in this manner it will shake faith of the forces in the SPs and soon they might become disobedient," pointed out an IPS officer.
The post of DIG in Palamau, who the SP could turn to for advice, is lying vacant for quite some time. Hazaribagh SP Suman Gupta happens to be in charge of Palamau. Around eight IPS officers are eligible for promotion to DIG rank, but the government is yet to take any decision.
nGarhwa survivor recalls horror of attack, Page 17
There are no comments yet