Garhwa (Jharkhand): In what appeared to
be a change in strategy, the Maoists reportedly made a village
head call up the police to solve a local dispute for executing
their plan in killing the 13 police men in Bariganwa forest
yesterday.
According to intelligence reports, Bargarh village
Mukhia (village head) Ramdas Minz, had called up the Bhandaria
Block Development Officer Basudeo Prasad and requested him to
visit the village, about 22 km from the ambush spot, to sort
out a dispute that forced a road shutdown by a section of
locals.
The BDO narrowly escaped as his vehicle drove past the
area before the landmine blast that claimed the lives of 13
police men.
"We can’t rule out. We have not yet located him
(village head). We have launched anti-Maoist operation in the
Bariganwa forests," Superindent of Police, Garhwa, Michael S
Raj said when asked whether the police suspected Minz
following yesterday’s trap laid by the rebels.
Minz recently came out of jail after getting a bail in
connection with a case. Intelligence sources said usually the
Maoists’ strategy was to call the police on the pretext of
naxal movement in a certain area and then they ambush the
security personnel. But police soon got aware of such traps.
The security forces often use a different route to
return from the visited spots, but yesterday the Maoists
attacked them while the police party was heading to the
assigned place.
Garhwa Deputy Commissioner R P Sinha had yesterday
said the BDO and the police party were going to Bargarh to
convince the locals to call off their blockade after they got
the information.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 22, 2012, 19:11