Gadchiroli: The Maharashtra police team which came under a fatal Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district may have ignored standard operating procedures (SOPs) while planning their movement, an official said on Thursday.
Sixteen people, including 15 policemen, were killed when Naxals blew up their vehicle by triggering an IED blast in the district on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Gadchiroli the Maharashtra DGP is examining if there was any lapse that led to the deadly Naxal attack.
The policemen, members of the district police Quick Response Team, were called as reinforcement from Kurkheda after CRPF personnel were shifted out from Purada for election duty, the official said.
Presence of the CRPF personnel, who were stationed in the area, could have ensured better patrolling of the stretch where the attack took place, he said.
Maoists had prior information of the movement of the QRT team so they planted an IED beneath the road and targeted the private vehicle ferrying them, the official said.
In the early hours of Wednesday, 27 vehicles were torched by Maoists at Dadapur in jurisdiction of the Purada police station, he said.
Naxals knew a police team would be sent to Purada after the arson incident, the official added.
“It seems the police team did not follow the SOPs,” he said, adding in such cases policemen should avoid using private vehicles and instead must go on foot.
The police team should have sensed the danger and avoided taking a private vehicle in a hurry to reach the arson site, the official said.
Speaking to reporters after paying tributes to the martyred policemen, Fadnavis said the state DGP himself is probing the incident and will check if there were any lapses.
Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal had on Wednesday asserted that the attack was not due to intelligence failure. (PTI)
