Patna, October 6
After kidnapping him five days ago the Maoist guerrillas finally killed Jharkhand police intelligence officer Francis Induwar, whose body with his head severed was found on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur road today morning.
A handwritten letter in red ink purportedly written by the abductors, which said Induwar was beheaded to “avenge the police atrocities on the kin of Kundan Pahan” (a Maoist area commander) was also recovered from the body. The letter warned the police to refrain from “torturing Kundan’s comrades or be ready to face similar punishment”, adding “it is just the beginning.”
Induwar was kidnapped by the Maoists on September 30 while he was out shopping in the Hembrum market in Khunti, about 40 km from Ranchi. Subsequently, a Maoist leader issued a statement to the local media demanding the officer be swapped with their arrested politburo member, Kobad Ghandy, and two other imprisoned senior leaders, Bhushan Yadav and Chhtradhar Mahto.
However, neither the Jharkhand government nor the Centre was ready to comply with the demand. The inspector’s wife and daughter had appealed to the Naxals through the media to release him on the plea that he was innocent, but the abductors were apparently unmoved.
Home Minister P Chidambaram, however, said today there had been no demand from the Maoists for any swap of the arrested Naxalites but termed the beheading as “not acceptable”. “The cold blooded murder is simply not acceptable.
I condemn it”, he said.
Asked whether the latest Maoist outrage came ahead of a full-fledged crackdown against them by the Centre, he said: “We’ve not announced anything, we have not said anything - this is media speculation. All we’ve said is that following our assessment that the Naxalite threat is a grave threat to internal security, the Centre will provide support to the state police forces to continue their operations against the Maoists”.
Ranchi SSP Praveen Kumar also denied any communication from the Maoists for the release of the officer of the special branch of the Jharkhand police. “The act was perpetrated out of sheer frustration following the arrests of several Maoists, including their central leaders,” he said.
The recovery of Induvar’s body, an officer of the special branch of the Jharkhand police, sent shock waves among the state’s security agencies. After an autopsy was conducted the body was taken to the state police headquarters in Ranchi, where senior police officers including DGP VD Ram paid floral tributes.
Later a delegation of special branch officials met the DGP and the Jharkhand police intelligence chief to express their anguish and discuss their security concerns while on field duty.
“The DGP and other top cops discussed the ‘do’s and don’ts’ with the special branch officials” SN Pradhan, an IG rank officer who is also the spokesman for the Jharkhand police, told The Tribune. In reply to a question on whether intelligence sleuths would be provided bodyguards, he said “our job is to collect intelligence by remaining faceless and we cannot allow ourselves to be exposed by being escorted by armed bodyguards”.
The state government will provide a cash compensation of Rs 10 lakh to Induwar’s family, besides the salary and perks that would have accrued to the slain inspector during his service period.
Induwar has become the 339th policeman to be killed in Naxal violence in Jharkhand between January 2003 and October this year. The state’s 20 of the 24 districts are infested by Maoist guerrillas.
