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Cuttack: A four-member Left Wing Extremism (LWE) wing of the Odisha Crime Branch would probe into the landmine blast in Sunki Ghat area in Koraput district on Thursday evening resulting in the death of eight Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP) personnel.
Informing this to the media today, Crime Branch Special DG BK Sharma said the team, led by a DSP, would leave for Koraput tomorrow with a forensic expert team for an on-the-spot probe.
“The team would probe into various aspects including the manner and circumstances of the blast and the explosives used for detonation,” he added.
Sharma further said that the team, apart from its probe, would also collect information from the eyewitnesses and those who had escaped the blast.
The explosion took place near Mungarbhumi on Sunki Ghat, barely one km from Andhra Pradesh border in the Maoist-affected Koraput district.
The incident took place when 13 OSAP personnel, mostly police drivers, were on their way to Cuttack in a truck for training. The seriously injured personnel were rushed to the district headquarters hospital in Koraput and another hospital in Visakhapatanam.
Meanwhile, State Havildar and Constable Association president Prashant Mohapatra blamed senior police officials for the incident alleging that the standard operation procedure during movement of security personnel in sensitive areas are not followed properly for which the Maoists succeeded in carrying out the landmine blast. Like senior police officials, the OSAP Jawans should be allowed to move in private vehicles in sensitive areas.
On the other hand, DIG (South Western range) S Saini said human rights activists should raise their voice against killing of innocent police personnel by Maoists.
