5 Of 10 Cops Killed In Chhattisgarh Were Once Maoists, Wanted Better Life

Of the ten police personnel who lost their lives in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, five had joined the force after quitting the Maoists, a senior official said on Thursday.

Ten personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and their civilian driver were killed after Maoists blew up a vehicle, which was part of a convoy carrying security personnel in the Aranpur police station area of Dantewada on Wednesday afternoon, using a powerful improvised explosive device (IED). The blast site is located around 450km from state capital Raipur.

Of them, Head Constables Joga Sodi (35), Munna Kadti (40), Constables Hariram Mandavi (36) and Joga Kawasi (22), and Gopniya Sainik (secret troopers) Rajuram Kartam (25) were once active as Maoists and joined the police after surrendering, Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P told PTI.

Sodi, a resident of Arlampalli village in neighbouring Sukma district, and Kadti, a native of Muder village in Dantewada, joined the police in 2017. Similarly, Mandavi and Kartam, residents of Dantewada, were inducted into the police force in 2020 and 2022, respectively, he said.

Another jawan Kawasi, a resident of Bade Gadam village in Dantewada, joined the DRG just last month, added the IPS officer.

Dubbed as "sons of the soil", DRG personnel are recruited from among local youth and surrendered Maoists in the Bastar division, a Maoist hotbed. The DRG, an arm of the state police, was raised over different periods of time in seven districts of the Bastar division, spread over an area of around 40,000 sq kms, to fight the menace of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) that has troubled the state for the past three decades.

The unit was first set up in Kanker (north Bastar) and Narayanpur (comprising Abhujmad) districts in 2008 and after a gap of five years, the force was raised in Bijapur and Bastar districts in 2013. Subsequently, it was expanded in Sukma and Kondagaon districts in 2014, while in Dantewada, the force was raised in 2015.

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