2 personnel injured as combing teams open fire ‘accidentally’

They were airlifted to a Ranchi hospital in the afternoon.

Six Jharkhand security personnel were injured in separate incidents on Thursday, two days after 15 of their Chhattisgarh counterparts were killed in a CPI (Maoist) ambush.

In Latehar, Deputy Commandant Vivek Ojha and SI Ashok Kumar Singh of the 214th Battalion suffered bullet injuries when two teams involved in a combing operation came up against each other in Garu Police Station limits at 9.30 am. Their condition is now stable. “Our information states there was confusion between two parties and it did not involve the Maoists. It was an accidental firing between two police parties,” said Latehar SP Michael Raj. The state’s DGP refused to concede that it was a cross-firing incident.

Meanwhile in Chatra district, four personnel suffered injuries when an IED they were trying to defuse went off. They were airlifted to a Ranchi hospital in the afternoon. Reports indicate that the Chatra incident was the result of a lapse in following the Standard Operating Procedures, as the Additional SP attempted to defuse the IED even as the bomb squad was on its way.

Additional SP R S Mishra, CRPF constables Kamra Vikram and Satbir Singh and ASI Manoj Toppo of the state police were injured in the incident. Police said the Chatra incident could have been avoided. “The Additional SP was confident that he could defuse it (the IED) on his own and decided not to wait for the arrival of the Bomb Disposal and Detection Squad,” an officer said.

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