During his visit to the Palamu encounter site, Director General of Police (DGP) DK Pandey candidly answered the queries of The Pioneer about the Tuesday night encounter of the security forces. Excerpts:
Were the Maoists given any warning or chance to lay down their armsIJ
The Maoists were given chance to lay down the arms but they fired on our jawans. They did not give ear to our sane warning and continued the firing. Their firing was properly and adequately retaliated by our jawans.
Among the 12 killed, a couple of the deceased are said to be below 18 years of age
I am told one of those killed looked around 16 or 17 years of age. let there be the post-mortem of him.
The encounter took place around 12.15 in the night of June 9. How did all this happenIJ
The ADG (Special Branch) had the precise input of the movement of the Maoists and the police acted fast and swift.
On the coordination among various forcesIJ
It was a well-coordinated and meticulous drive against the Maoists in which these forces worked in perfect tuning with each other.
What was the Maoists’ planIJ
The Maoists had a plan to dislocate June 10 Koomandi police function. They had their evil eyes on it. They had diabolical design hidden with them for this Koomandi police camp. On Wednesday, I was to open the police camp at Koomandi. The Maoists knew this. They are hell-bent not to have this camp there as it will come as a rude obstacle to them.
Had the Maoists done any recce of the areaIJ
Very much. They were there for the last two to three days. It is said the Maoists were in two four-wheelers. Police fired at just one. The Maoists were in two four-wheelers. And the Maoists of both the vehicles jumped out to fight. The second vehicle’s occupants fired more and more on our boys. The first vehicle occupant was less in number.
How do you see this encounter in which the Maoists are just down not outIJ
Accha Kaam hua hai. Palamu SP Patel Mayur K lal aur uski team ne accha kaam kiya hai. CRPF aur Cobra jawans aur Jaguar ney badhiya kaam kiya hai.