Amid questions raised on the authenticity of the Kanker Naxal encounter, the local station house officer who led the operation in the forests of Hapatola in the Chhattisgarh district, has come on record to say there was no doubt that those killed were members of Naxal militia.
Pakhanjur station house officer Lakshman Kewat, in an exclusive chat, told CNN-News18 that all those killed were wearing khaki uniform, like members of the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA). “All those killed were wearing khaki uniforms that PLGA members wear. Village residents would have been in civilian attire. Also, they don’t handle arms,” he said.
A controversy broke out after Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate called for an investigation into the Kanker encounter. Earlier, former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel had alleged that a number of fake encounters were taking place in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh.
Asked about the allegations, the SHO said the police gave adequate warning to the Naxals. “When we spotted the Naxals, we made announcements asking them to surrender. We repeatedly asked them to lay down arms and warned them that the security forces had encircled them. But they retaliated,” he said.
“We received a specific tip-off from an informer about the presence of Naxals in the forest area. Our informer told us that the Naxals were planning an operation to sabotage the upcoming polls. To stop it, we launched a counter operation,” he added.
Kewat, a six-time gallantry medal-winning police officer, said security forces trekked all night on April 15, crossed four to five hills and reached the tentative location of the Naxals. “This was the liberated zone inside Abujmarh… their intelligence is very strong in this area. Because we had trekked in the night, they may have been caught off guard. Near the Kotri river around 10 am on Tuesday (April 16), the Maoist sentry spotted police movement and burst crackers to warn comrades. We, too, became alert as we know about this strategy. The cracker burst also convinced us that we were at the right spot,” he said.
“It took us two hours of search and cordon to finally locate the Naxals. They were waiting to ambush and started detonating IEDs as soon as we reached close to their hiding spot. We were continuously announcing that we are from the police force, and that they should stop firing but in vain. We were left with no option but to start retaliatory firing. We took our positions and the encounter continued for four hours. After 4 in the evening, when we started searching, we found their bodies. Some we could identify immediately,” he added.
The officer rejected all charges of any illegality and said while it is heartening that there was no casualty among the forces, it was a big challenge to keep their injured jawans safe. “Two of our colleagues suffered bullet injuries in the first hour and there was a lot of blood loss. We managed with first aid; but, if medical help had been delayed, we would have lost them,” he said.
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