Chhattisgarh: Additional SP Killed, Two Officers Injured in IED Blast
Hyderabad: At least one police personnel was killed, while two others were injured in a blast caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Maoists near Dondra village of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh on Monday morning.
The incident took place a day ahead of a nationwide bandh called by the Maoists to protest the encounter killing of Communist Party of India (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Kesava Rao in an encounter in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh on May 21.
A 42-year-old additional superintendent of police, identified as Akash Rao Giripunje, succumbed to injuries during treatment at a hospital in Konta. Rao was a direct recruit DSP of 2013 batch. He was posted at Konta last year.
Meanwhile, DSP Bhanu Pratap Chandrakar and Inspector Sonhal Gavla – who were injured in the blast – were given first aid before being airlifted for treatment at a hospital in Raipur.
Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundarraj P. said that their condition was out of danger.
The incident happened around 10 AM on May 21 when ASP Rao was leading a police party on foot on Konta-Errabor road. The police were on foot patrol after receiving information that the Maoists had burnt an earth mover in the area.
According to Sundarraj, Rao faced the full impact of the explosion as he stepped on the IED pressure bomb.
Another senior police officer said the Maoists have planted IEDs deep inside the surface of several roads passing through forests in Chhattisgarh whereas the detection equipment of police are designed to identify explosives only up to a depth of two feet.
In this case, it was buried more than five feet below, the officer noted.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai said in a post on X warned that the “Naxalites” will have to face its consequences.
"Our security forces have been fighting a big battle against Naxalites in Chhattisgarh and achieving continuous successes in it. Frustrated by this, the Naxalites have carried out such cowardly acts and they will have to face its consequences. The day is not far when their existence will end in Chhattisgarh," he said.
Sundarraj said any attempt by Maoists to break the morale of the police will fail. "Our unwavering commitment to root out Maoism has only become stronger after the incident," he said.
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