Men ‘fearful’ of Maoists, police ‘desert’ Gadchiroli village

GADCHIROLI: An unsettling silence greets you in Dadapur, a dusty, nondescript village in northern Gadchiroli, about 950 km from Mumbai. It’s the same village where Maoists burnt 27 vehicles, a night before blowing up a vehicle carrying 15 securitymen with an improvised explosive device (IED).

Outside every household and shop one can easily come across banners ostensibly put up by Maoists calling for a halt to construction of roads and culverts. Men fearful of the police who often pick them up for interrogation after every Maoist attack have literally deserted Dadapur. The women simply said they have left for a wedding in a neighbouring village. The women folk also claimed “they didn’t hear any sound of vehicle being burnt because of the whirring sound of their air coolers!” “That night our air cooler was on and we didn’t hear any sound. Only in the morning we saw the torched vehicles and learnt that Maoists had come here,” said Jayashree. But she isn’t the only one with that narrative. The sound of the tyre blast echoed in the neighbouring Ramgad village, but the villagers in Dadapur insisted they didn’t hear anything.

Outside P Dinesh’s grocery shop Maoists have put up a banner claiming they are against road construction. Dinesh says: “They were carrying weapons... They wouldn’t have thought twice before shooting me down.”

A few brave men still around admit that those who have fled are fearful of both the police and Maoists. “The road that was being constructed is necessary... The other night Maoists came knocking at my door asking for some spices to cook. A little later I heard loud sounds. When I peered outside my window I saw women hurling commands and men torching the vehicles, all of them were armed,” said a villager in whose courtyard Maoists have hoisted a similar banner.

As per police, after 8 pm on Tuesday, 100-150 Maoists, mostly from a neighbouring Chhattisgarh village belonging to Company 4 (the Maoist unit active in Gadchiroli-Gondia and Chhattisgarh region) and those from Tipagaad dalam (an armed Maoist unit) entered Dadarpur. While they were carrying the basic ration needed for cooking, a few doors were knocked for the missing ingredients. After dinner, drivers hired by contractor Amar Infrastructures were asked by Maoists to hand over the keys. The diesel was pilfered and the same was used to set them ablaze, a senior official told ET. For the past two months, the contractor for Purada-Yerkad sector of the NH-136 has been parking his vehicles in Dadapur. “Earlier vehicles and machines were parked in Purada police station. The Tipagad dalam is close to Dadapur. The contractor was parking the vehicles and machines in the village without police protection. The Maoists took advantage of this and set the trap,” said the official.

Around 10.30 am on Wednesday, when sub-divisional officer Shailed Kale visited Kurkheda police station, he is learnt to have instructed that a quick response team (QRT) be sent immediately to help Purada police station in the panchanama formalities into the arson case. Thirty minutes after the order, a team of 15 men jostled and sat in a mini tempo. Owing to the constraint of space they tied their backpacks to the makeshift roof of the private vehicle. The bags were a certain giveaway. This helped the Maoist informers to give pinpointed information on the troop movement. A road opening party, which is a part of the standard operating procedure (SOP) in Maoist areas, was also not pressed. Around 11.30 am, when the vehicle was navigating through a culvert on Lendhri road around 8 km from Dadapur, the Maoists who used the tree cover as an ambush, detonated the explosives, killing all 16. “This was a classic Maoist trap — first carry out arson and then compel the police to reach the spot and place landmines on the route for maximum casualty. The panchanama could have waited and there was no need to send 15 men in a single vehicle without sanitising the route,” said a former IPS officer of the Maharashtra police. Locals claim IEDs at Lendhri road wasn’t the only one that the Maoists were planning to plant. “Reports from neighbouring villages say Maoists were trying to plant IEDs at two other locations, basically on all the routes that could have been taken by the police stations when Purada dialed for help. The claims that IEDs were planted under culverts of the arterial roads are being examined,” added the official.

In 2017, Union home minister Rajnath Singh had set a target to end Maoist violence by 2022. Maharashtra, with Maoist presence in Gadchiroli-Gondia region, was seen heading in that direction. In April 2018, killing of 40 comrades in two encounters (Kasanasur and Rajaram Khandla) was projected as a major victory. But the May 1 incident is a clear setback. “After the 2018 encounter, we were sure of Maoist attack. The Tipagad and the Korchi dalams (both in northern Gadchiroli), having proximity to Chhattisgarh, have managed to regroup and we suspect that Bhaskar Raoji Hichami, alias Rushi, alias Pawan, who was recently made the divisional commander, was the mastermind of the May 1 attack,” said another officer. “It appeared that Maharashtra was going the Andhra Pradesh way (the state has managed to wipe out the Maoist movement) but the May 1 incident has shown that Maoists still have their footing in Maharashtra,” added the official.

The main persons wanted for May 1 incident are Ganapathy, alias Muppala Lakshmana Rao, who stepped down as the general secretary of the group in November, CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao, alias Basavaraj, and central committee member Milind Teltumbde and five others. Teltumbde is also wanted for the January 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence. The FIR also names Company No 4, Tipagad, Korchi dalam, members of Vistar platoon dalam no. 1 and 90-100 other accomplices. The accused have been booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IPC, the Arms Act and the Explosives Act.

Meanwhile, CRPF, one of the stakeholders in Gadchiroli security setup with 5 battalions (troop strength of over 5,000), is now planning to seek MHA permission for deploying another battalion in northern Gadchiroli. “The nearest post to northern Gadchiroli is around 100 km. The Maoist concentration is more in the southern Gadchiroli and so in 2015 they were moved there. But after this incident, a dedicated deployment in north is needed,” said an MHA official.

A senior paramilitary official said that for any development work in these areas, paramilitary forces or the local C-60 commandos should be roped in. “Had there been a security cover either by CRPF or the C-60 commandos (a special commando unit of Maharashtra police), the May 1 incident could have been avoided,” added the official.