RANCHI: Alerting all district headquarters over possible Maoist attack to mark the black day on Independence Day, Jharkhand Police has issued a letter to all SPs not to act in haste in removing the posters, banners, or black flags as it might be a trap to ambush the forces.
In the letter by the special branch of Jharkhand Police, the SPs have also been asked to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) while reacting against any such information as most of the time it is found to be tactics adopted by Maoists to carry out an ambush.
According to the Special Branch, as they have done earlier, Maoists are likely to observe ‘Black Day’ on August 15, during which, they might put black flags on government buildings such as schools, Panchayat Bhawans, Primary Health Care Centers or even on non-government buildings or blow them up by IEDs.
“Most of the time times, Maoists trap security forces to ambush them by putting black flags, posters, banners on government buildings or blowing them up. Therefore, SOPs must be followed by the forces while travelling to such places as there is a possibility that an IED might be planted under the banners and flags, which may blow up as soon as they are removed,” stated the letter issued by ADG (Special Branch) Muralilal Meena. Such incidents have already taken place earlier in Gumla and Bokaro, it added.
A list of sensitive police stations located in different districts has also been given to the SPs concerned asking them to make deployment of cops at strategic and sensitive locations.
Therefore, the letter further stated that the Maoists might also use police uniforms or VIP vehicles for making an attack on MLAs, MPs, or some other public representatives or executing any other Maoist incidents. Patrolling parties in Left Wing Extremism ((LWE) affected districts have also been warned to keep extra precaution while reacting over any information related to Maoist-related incidents on Independence Day.
Meanwhile, all the SPs have been asked to conduct search operations in their districts and interrogate the suspected persons if found occupying hotel rooms.