A day after the 10 District Reserve Guard personnel and their driver were killed in an IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s sensitive Dantewada district, a preliminary assessment by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) revealed that Maoists allegedly received signals about the presence of uniform-clad jawans when some locals stopped the vehicle just 100 meters away from the place of the incident, asking for some donation for Aamaa festival, reported The Indian Express.
Another vehicle in the convoy which was carrying two arrested Maoists had crossed the point safely, just minutes before the IED blast which was triggered between 1-1:30 PM on Wednesday in the Aranpur area.
What led to the IED attack?
Wednesday’s attack was a result of an incident from April 18 when a convoy of Congress MLA Vikram Mandavi from Bijapur district, who was returning to Bijapur city after a visit from a village in Gangaloor tehsil, came under Maoists attack on the Gangaloor-Padeda road. No one was injured in the attack.
A source told IE that the probe had revealed that weapon of the assailant had jammed when Mandavi was attacked, and in the meantime, the driver of the car tried to speed away from the spot.
After the incident, DRG personnel, whose work focuses on anti-Maoist operations, came to Aranpur on April 24. According to an officer, when they received information about the presence of Maoists near Aranpur, the team immediately swung to action.
On Wednesday, two Maoists suffered gunshots in an exchange of fire with the patrolling team near Nahadi village, around 7 km from Aranpur. They were rounded up and brought back to the district headquarters.
However, a Central Intelligence officer said that as per protocol after an operation security forces can move only after receiving specific intelligence inputs and after the route is sanitised.
However, when the DRG personnel were returning, there was no ROP in place and the first vehicle, which carried the Maoists were travelling had crossed the point, and the second was stopped by locals asking for donations, according to the preliminary assessment report, which was sent to senior officials on Thursday.
The assessment also revealed that the driver, Dhanaram Yadav, had stopped the vehicle just 100 metres before the IED point.
“There is a strong possibility that the locals signalled the Maoists that the DRG jawans were present and they were also carrying weapons. As soon as the van reached the point, the blast occurred and the vehicle flew some 50 metres,” the source said, as per IE.
After the IED was set off, the Maoists had ran towards the van and tried to snatch the weapons. However, the DRG personnel in the next vehicle opened fire and the Maoists had escaped from the spot.