Hyderabad, July 01: Hours after 26 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were massacred by the CPI Maoists in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, the rebels set off pressure mines injuring three CRPF personnel in Bijapur district on Wednesday.
A probe is already on to ascertain what went wrong with the forces yesterday. Two of the slain CRPF personnel belong to Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, the Maoist sponsored bandh started today in five states including Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar.
The Director General of CRPF, Vikram Srivastava along with senior police officials arrived in Narayanpur district today to take stock of the situation.
Senior police officials from Chhattisgarh told Express over telephone that about 40 CRPF jawans had reached Cherpal area in Bijapur around 12.30 p.m. when pressure mines went off injuring three personnel.
“Luckily, they escaped with minor injuries,” an official said.
The CRPF party is providing protection to the workers engaged in construction of a road in Cherpal area. “The incident happened in Cherpal and the road laying works have been suspended temporarily,” sources said. With regads to yesterday’s ambush, a probe is on to ascertain whether there was any intelligence failure that led to the massacre in Narayanpur district.
“We will probe whether there was prior information about the presence of Maoists in the area,” an official said. Perched on a hilltop, about 100 heavily armed rebels opened fire from automatic weapons and lobbed grenades killing 26 CRPF jawans yesterday.
The bodies were lifted by IAF choppers and flown to Raipur from where arrangements were made to send the dead bodies to their respective home towns.
Two of the 26 slain jawans belong to Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. Bodies of head constable S Rama Rao of Kothagarpadu village and constable Krishna Kanth of Kothapeta, both from Srikakulam district, were flown into Vizag Naval base by an IAF helicopter.
Sources said that family members of each jawan will get about Rs 40 lakh as compensation which includes their pension, gratuity and the compensation announced by Chhattisgarh government and the CRPF.
–Agencies