For 45 minutes, I only heard gunshots: Survivor
For Dheeraj Kumar, it was an exciting assignment that turned into pure horror.
The journalist was a part of a team, which included camera person Achyutananda Sahu and light assistant Mormukt Sharma, sent by public broadcaster Doordarshan to cover the upcoming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.
“We were planning to cover a newly built polling station in Nilwaya, where people haven’t voted since 1998,” said the 37-year-old who survived the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada on Tuesday morning in which Sahu and two policemen, sub inspector Rudra Pratap and assistant sub inspector Manglu, were killed.
A resident of Bihar’s Begusarai district, Kumar and his team were heading to Nilwaya about 5km from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp at Sameli when they were ambushed.
The team were being ferried around by the policemen on motorcycles, the most favoured vehicle in the Maoist heartland where cars and vans can be blown up by land mines planted by rebels.
“At around 10.25 am, I saw the motorcycle which was heading our group suddenly fall down. My cameraman, who was in the first motorcycle, was hit by a bullet and fell down in front of my eyes. Our motorcycle also lost balance ... Luckily, I fell in a ditch and crawled deeper,” Kumar recounted.
“For the next 45 minutes, it was pure horror. I was lying in the ditch and all I heard was the sound of bullets. I felt that around 50 bullets whizzed past, over my head,” Kumar, who is now at Sameli camp.
He said that before going to Sameli, he informed Dantewada’s superintendent of police Abhishek Pallav, who gave his nod and assured that security would be provided. Pallav could not be reached for a comment as he rushed to the spot after the incident.
“The injured have been brought to Dantewada for treatment. The matter is under investigation,” special director general of police (Naxal operations) DM Awasthi said.
Bastar is India’s Maoist hotbed and said to be the last strong hold of the insurgents. There are seven districts in Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. Sukma,Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur are the worst affected districts.
On November 12 a total of 18 constituencies of Chhattisgarh including all the 12 constituencies of Bastar division are going for polls in first phase of the two phase election.