RAIPUR: On a day of announcement of Lok Sabha poll dates, the outlawed Maoists in the conflict zone of Bastar, south Chhattisgarh, abducted a police officer of sub-inspector rank and later devised a plan to ambush the security forces by spreading the rumour of having killed him inside the jungle.
The rebels also kidnapped a school teacher along with the police officer Lalit Kumar Kashyap posted in the strife-torn Dantewada, about 450 km south of Raipur on Sunday night.
On Tuesday the naxals released both reportedly under the pressure of the villagers.
“The abducted SI has very dubious track record. The villagers were annoyed as they suffered owing to his
high-handedness. They sought the help of Maoists to teach him a lesson. While Kashyap and his teacher friend were consuming liquor in remotely located school premises the rebels took them away”, the Dantewada district superintendent of police Abhishek Pallava told the New Indian Express.
After their release, the district police who were on high alert learnt about the big plan of the Maoists. “The
naxalites through villagers and local media spread the fake news and rumour that the policeman was killed by them in their jan-adalat. Their aim was to target the security forces planting an ambush when the troopers might embark on a search for the body.
We are aware about the naxal’s ongoing Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) and so were cautious about their possible evil design”, the Dantewada SP added. After the abduction, the district police chief had called the villagers and further detained some suspected lower cadres of Maoists (called as jan-militia). They were warned by him that if the abducted persons were killed they (villagers) will face the charge of murder and later jailed.
“The local inhabitants then went to the naxalites seeking their release. The rebels though had already planned to kill both on Tuesday”, said the SP, who was briefed by the villagers.
Owing to the corrupt, unprincipled credentials and the repeated complaints against him, the sub-inspector has been suspended after preliminary inquiry. An FIR will be lodged against him after the police complaint get registered by the villagers.
Dantewada is among the seven worst Maoist-affected districts in Bastar.