CRPF jawans allege lack of support from Aurangabad police, say SP left the place soon

Law Kumar Mishra

Patna: Involvement of  Naxalites from Palamu in Jharkhand  is suspected in the landmines blasts and firings in the jungles of Aurangabad district on Monday night in which 10 jawans of the CRPF COBRA 205  battallion jawans  were killed. Jharkhand police had been conducting regular search operations in Latehar and Garwha districts of Palamu division for the last few weeks and a couple of days earlier too. The CRPF had put pressure on them in Latehar.

According to M S Bhatia, IG, Jharkhand police, Keol Shankh gang led by Navin Bhuyian and Prince might be leading the squad which laid the ambush. Koel is the name of a river flowing in Palamu . Sunil Kumar, additional director general of Bihar police, also admitted some lapses have been pointed out and they would be inquired into.He said the Naxalites were in advantegous position as they occupied the hills while the forces were on the ground in the dense forests.
Meanwhile, the jawans who survived the ambush and serial blasts in Sugandha jungles of Aurangabad district in central Bihar  on Monday night have alleged they did not get support of the local police.Five jawans are admitted in Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College Hospital at Gaya and a private hospital at Patna.The jawans have alleged they did not receive logistic support from neighbouring Gaya police either. Helicopter did not reach the injured security forces in time. A jawan admitted at Gaya hospital complained  rescue did not reach in time and the injured were not rescued in time and valuable time was lost. According to the jawans, the SP of Aurangabad district police left the scene as soon as encounter started.

They were not allowed to contact their superior officers. Police launched combing operation after the 12 hours long encounter concluded. Bihar Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, principal secretary(home) Amir Subhani and DGP PK Thakur reached Gaya where the CRPF DG Durga Prasad arrived on instructions of the union home minister Rajnath Singh.They met the injured jawans at the hospital..

The jawans had killed three Naxalites on Dumra nallah. When they were returning from operation, 17 landmines blast took place killing 8 of them on the spot while two others died on way to hospital. About 500 rounds were fired. Police recovered sophisticated weapons from the slain Naxaltes.

Kamal Kishore, DIG, CRPF, said Maoists had INSAS rifles too .They were holding a meeting on the hills and planning a attack on security forces. As the reports about their presence reached the district headquarters, CRPF’s COBRA battallion rushed to the hills for major operation. Names of other Naxalites including Sandip Yadav,  zonal commander of Maoists, Ramprasad  Yadav, Abhay Yadav and Abhijit Yadav have also surfaced  in Aurangabad attack on CRPF.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announced Rs 5 lakh as ex-gratia to the families of each of the slain jawans from Bihar government. Union home minister Rajnath Singh talked to Nitish over phone and assured all assistance from the union government to liquidate Naxalites. Post-mortem of bodies of the martyred jawans were conducted at ANMMCH, Gaya. Body of Manoj Kumar was sent to Betul in MP. Bodies of three jawans: Arwind Kumar, Ravi Kumar and Anil Kumar were sent to their respective villages by road to Buxar, Siwan and Khagaria districts after officers of CRPF laid wreaths on them at CRPF headquarters at Gaya. Other jawans were from Manipur,West Bengal, Chhattsgarh and Andhra Pradesh.