A preliminary probe into the Naxal attack that killed 15 personnel of the Gadchiroli police earlier this month, has found lapses in adherence to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the red zones of the State.
The report of Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) S.K. Jaiswal was forwarded to the State Home Department this week.
Sans recce
Fixing responsibility for the incident of May 1, the probe has found a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) guilty of rushing the unit into an ambush, without following the procedures or sending a road patrol party to do a recce.
The said SDPO and another senior unit in-charge have been asked to proceed on forced leave, officials confirmed to The Hindu .
In one of the worst retaliatory attacks, Maoist insurgents blew up an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), killing men of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of the Gadchiroli police. The unit was proceeding from the police station in Kurkheda taluka, nearly 60 km north of Gadchiroli, when the blast was triggered. The Naxals had torched 36 vehicles meant to assist road work the previous night.
Fixing accountability
Among other preventive measures, the report also suggests changes to the existing SOP, and has fixed responsibility for its violation on the senior unit in-charge.
“The inquiry has found the SDPO in-charge made two calls asking the men to leave as early as possible to the spot where the Maoists had burnt vehicles just the previous night. Before pushing the unit out of Kurkheda, (SDPO) did not wait for the SOP to unfold,” said a senior official of the Home Department.
The report, which followed the DGP’s two-day visit to the attack site, suggests changes to the existing SOP to avoid future incidents, officials said.
“The report has suggested postponing the filing a panchnama soon after any incident has taken place to avoid ambushes in the future. The panchanama — as per the new changes — will now wait until anti-landmine vehicles or patrol parties have scanned the area. This is one of the many changes we have suggested to the existing SOPs for the red zone,” said an official.
Centre’s guidelines
Earlier this month, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba while sharing details of the movements of the various Naxal units or dalams with the State government, urged the forces to follow the SOP on all possible occasions. The letter had stated the SOPs to be observed during long patrols and during the protection duty for burnt vehicles.
“We have included contents of Union Government’s letter into suggested SOP changes,” a State government official said.
