Gadchiroli blasts: Senior officers puzzled by use of IEDs in attack

The vehicle in which the police team was travelling

The May 1 blasts set off by naxals in Gadchiroli that killed 16 people, of which 15 were cops, have forced senior IPS officers to go back to the drawing board to figure out what the lapses in their Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) were. Cops are puzzled about how, when usage of IEDs by naxals had been curtailed in naxal-dominated areas of Gadchiroli since 2016, it was used again to carry out Wednesday's devastating attack.

A senior IPS officer, who has worked extensively in the naxal area during his tenure, said, "Naxal activities and attacks were well under control in the last couple of years (from 2015 till 2018-end). It is just of late that they are once again making attempts to attack the men in uniform and disrupt infrastructure projects. We need to find the loophole in our SOPs. Recently, a large cache of explosives was recovered by the police. But, the Wednesday massacre is a matter of concern, and we will need to fix the problem and neutralise the naxals."

Large quantity of explosives

"It is evident by the damage to the vehicles and the distance to which the human remains were blown away, that a very large quantity of explosives was used in the attack, clearly indicating that it was planned," explained the officer. Prima facie, it seems there is a direct link to the naxals torching 25 vehicles of a Chhattisgarh-based infrastructure company in the wee hours of Wednesday and being sure that the police team would be using the route to reach the location to conduct a panchnama. This is corroborated by local BJP MP and candidate Ashok Nete. He told mid-day that the tar road was dug up by the naxals and the explosives placed beneath it, as a huge crater has formed at the spot of the blast.

Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the 15 QRT cops were attached to the Kurkhea police station and were all police constables who had joined the force between 2010-2011 and were natives of Gadchiroli, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Buldhana and Beed.

Team had followed SOP

The team had taken the utmost precautions as per the SOP and did not use a police vehicle to reach the location of the arson incident. They had, instead, hired a private goods carrier. Inquiries have revealed that the vehicle was registered in the name of one Nandkumar Gahane. It is unclear if Gahane was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident.

A highly-placed police official said, "We have also started looking for more explosives and have put the entire force on maximum alert. The mortal remains of the dead policemen are likely to be brought to Gadchiroli police headquarters on Thursday, where their last rites will be conducted. The policemen's families, as well as Minister of State for Home and other top government officials, will be arriving for the funeral."

Site inspection done

Meanwhile, a forensic team attached to the State Forensic Science laboratory, Nagpur, late on Wednesday left for a site inspection to collect the remains from the crime scene, which will be tested to ascertain the nature of explosives used and the approximate quantity used, said a senior forensics expert.

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