Orissa Naxal attack: 9 bodies found, constable missing
New Delhi, Bhubaneswar A day after nine Chhattisgarh policemen, including an Additional SP, were killed by Naxalites near the Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary in Orissa’s south-western Nuapara district, local authorities were grappling with several puzzling questions surrounding the incident.
Crucial to the investigation is the disappearance of constable Hola Ram Sahu, who was supposed to be part of the 10-member team led by ASP Rajesh Pawar which had gone to Orissa on the trail of a Naxal leader. The search teams that were sent this morning recovered nine bodies from the site while Hola Ram was missing.
“Our team searched the area thoroughly, but we could not find him,” Raipur Inspector General of Police Mukesh Gupta told The Indian Express.
The disappearance of the constable has led to speculation about whether he was a Naxal informer but Gupta quashed the reports. “All evidence points to a chance ambush. The police party was attacked only because their vehicle had broken down and it took time for them to arrange for a tractor. That, unfortunately, was long enough time for the Naxalites to launch the attack,” he said.
Crucially, even the tractor which is said to have been towing the police vehicle, a Tata Sumo, when the attack happened, has not been traced.
The nine bodies were airlifted to Raipur where a post-mortem was conducted. Police sources said the post-mortem report revealed gunshot wounds on the head and chest of the policemen. They denied reports that the bodies had been mutilated or dismembered.
It has also now emerged that the ill-fated team was not on an operation but on a “verification mission” following information that a prominent Naxal leader was camping around that area. The information had come from a Naxalite-turned police informer, Gaurav, who was part of the 10-member team and was killed. The team was to be received by Nuapara SP Rajesh Pandit before deciding on the next course of action.
Pandit, who went to the spot Tuesday morning, said that in all probability Maoists of Mainpur division were responsible. Over the last two years, this division has led several attacks inside the wildlife sanctuary, terrorising the forest staff and killing a forester in April last year.
Though all the cops were in civilian clothes, they were traveling in an easily identifiable police vehicle. All police vehicles in Chhattisgarh have the same series of registration numbers starting with ‘CH03’ and these are not used during anti-Naxal operations.
After killing the policemen, a group of Maoists apparently waited to attack the search teams. “When our team advanced into the forests, we came under fire,” said a senior Orissa official.
Between May 4 and 23, 29 policemen have been killed in four ambushes in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Orissa
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