IED explosion: North Gadchiroli CPI(Maoist) unit head named in FIR

Read | Gadchiroli attack: ‘Trees red with blood. Body parts everywhere, even hanging from branches’

“We have booked the divisional commander of the Naxals in north Gadchiroli and other members of the party known to be active in the area,” Sub-Inspector Umesh Mahale of Purada police said.

Senior police officers said investigations will focus on identifying the source of the leak of specific information related to the movement of the 15 QRT policemen from Kurkheda police station to Purada police station on Wednesday morning. They were travelling to probe the arson of 36 vehicles of a road construction firm at Dadapur village. They died as an IED exploded on the way.

“We will also seek to find out who provided logistical support in the area and who planted the explosive in the culvert on the road near Jambhur Kheda village,” an official said.

Gadchiroli SP Shailesh Balkawade said, “We will carry out a complete and thorough investigation. We are identifying which Dalam (armed Maoist unit) is responsible for the attack. We cannot say that Wednesday’s attack was in retaliation to any specific incident.”

Only a week ago, the police had killed senior Maoist leader Ramco Narota, wife of Bhaskar, in an exchange of fire. In the last week of April, the party had put up banners all over the district condemning the killing of 40 Maoist by the police a year ago.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s attack, the police are now taking extra care in conducting investigations in both Dadapur and Kurkheda. “The Maoists expect us to come to both incident sites to carry out investigation. We have to be extra cautious to ensure that our movements do not become predictable and that men go and return safely,” an officer said.

While Maharashtra DGP Subodh Kumar Jaiswal had on Thursday said that errors made in the course of Wednesday’s movement will be assessed and steps taken to rectify them, officers insisted that there will be no knee-jerk reaction. “Before coming to any conclusion, we will study the sequence of events in detail and any mistakes committed,” the officer said.

Security officials attributed the death of the 15 QRT men to a gap in assessment. “Even in an area like north Gadchiroli, which is considered relatively peaceful than the south, you cannot be predictable in your movements. While standard operating procedures are in place, the movements of men at a particular time and place is decided based on the assessment of the field commander after studying the prevailing conditions. But there appears to have been some gap in assessing the situation on the ground,” an officer said.