Four personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district were killed in a blast on Saturday while they were engaged in extracting and defusing explosive material that had been dumped by Maoists, police said.
In a statement, Bastar police said, “With the assistance of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), the team leader and other members were in the process of safely extracting the materials from the dump and preparing for their controlled disposal. During this process, an explosion is believed to have occurred, likely due to high temperatures and a chemical reaction in the firecracker powder.”
Maoists have used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) extensively in the Bastar division which includes Kanker, but in recent months, following intensified operations aimed at ending Left-wing extremism in the country, security forces have been finding and defusing these explosives, sometimes with the help of inputs given by surrendered Maoists, police said.
On Saturday, a team from Kanker district’s DRG launched an operation in the jungle area of Chhotebethiya, which was earlier a Maoist stronghold and formed the entrance to Abujhmad from the Kanker side.
Bastar police said the operation was “aimed at recovering materials previously dumped by Maoists”.
“The first dump yielded items such as computers, monitors, and printers. Subsequently, another nearby dump was recovered, containing five sacks (15 kg each) of firecracker powder (gunpowder – Potassium Nitrate + Barium Nitrate) that had been earlier concealed by Maoists,” the police statement said.
After the explosion, Inspector Sukhram Vatti, Constable Krishna Komra, and Constable Sanjay Gadhpale succumbed to their injuries on the spot, officials said. Constable Parmanand Komra was rushed to a medical facility with serious injuries and died later during treatment.
Inspector General of Police for Bastar range, Sundarraj Pattalingam, said, “Under the leadership of Inspector Sukhram Vatti, the same team had successfully recovered and safely neutralised several IEDs from Maoist hideouts in past operations.”
“However, in this tragic accident, the force has lost four courageous commandos in the line of duty. The department remains forever indebted to the supreme sacrifice made by these brave personnel in service of the nation,” the IG added.
