Three personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) were killed and another was critically injured in an accidental improvised explosive device (IED) blast during a de-mining operation in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on Saturday, officials said.
According to police, the incident took place near the Kanker–Narayanpur inter-district border, where a DRG team from Chhotebethiya police station had been deployed for area domination, search operations, and clearance of explosives.
During the operation, an IED—suspected to have been planted earlier by Maoist insurgents—detonated accidentally while being neutralised. The explosion left four personnel injured.
Three of them—Inspector Sukhram Vatti, Constable Krishna Komra, and Constable Sanjay Gadhpale—died on the spot due to the severity of their injuries. Another constable, Parmanand Komra, sustained serious injuries and is undergoing treatment.
Bastar Range Inspector General of Police P. Sundarraj said security forces have, in recent months, successfully located and defused hundreds of IEDs in the region based on intelligence inputs and information provided by surrendered Maoist cadres. He described Saturday’s incident as a “tragic accident” that occurred in the course of ongoing efforts to secure the area.
Further details are awaited.
In a separate incident earlier in April, security forces killed a Maoist area commander carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh during an encounter in forests under Chhotebethiya police station limits in Kanker district, police said.
The slain insurgent, identified as Rupi, was recovered from the encounter site along with a weapon. Officials said operations in the region are continuing, and further information is expected.
(With inputs from ANI)
