THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Dec 19: Garhwa recorded its first major Naxal attack in the jungles under the Ranka police station limits on Sunday/Monday night after a considerable gap of time.
Garhwa, which is 160 km plus away from Chhatisgarh’s Ambikapur district, has remained peaceful despite CPI Maoists’ immense sway there. It is connected to Bihar through a river also besides a road. It is connected to UP too which has no history of left-wing extremism.
The surprise element behind the Naxal violence is that a splinter group of Naxals, the JJMP, a banned outfit, has done the violence.
The JJMP ultras injured the officer in charge of the Ranka police station Shankar Prasad Kushwaha who managed to survive just because he had worn the bullet proof jacket otherwise the JJMP would have been in celebratory mood for flattening this officer.
The bullet fired by the Naxals at this police officer ricochetted and he survived to see the day as it was an encounter in cold, chilling winter night where the cops proved they could take on the Naxals in the most adverse of the situation and at the oddest time quite well.
This correspondent spoke to Garhwa SP Deepak Pandey to know as to how he sees this act of the JJMP.
Here is the excerpt from the conversation held between The Jharkhand Story and SP Deepak Pandey:
Q: Was this attack of the JJMP sudden or abrupt with police not knowing about its presence and movement?
A: We knew the JJMP had come over to this part of Garhwa district from Palamu. It was here for over a week.
Q : Is this any resurgence or come back to extremism in Garhwa?
A: It’s neither any resurgence nor any come back. It’s an aberration. Police will deal with it very firmly.
Q: When as you said the JJMP was there for over a week or so, then what was done by your police to contain it or to push it back from Garhwa.
A : Our police were after it. We had almost confined it. We were conducting raids. The JJMP was running for space. The winter night encounter with it was a proof of our almost being on their heels.
Q: The JJMP struck hard within the Ranka police station limits. Is there any more flow of cash in Ranka?
A : There is a definite cash flow here in Ranka. Here L and T (Larsen and Tubro) is laying multi crore pipe laying works. Roads are also coming up. The JJMP casts its eyes on the money. We will frustrate every evil design of the JJMP.
Q: To build psychological pressure on the JJMP are you going to have an aerial surveillance of it by the drones?
A : If and when we will fly drones the world will see it.
