COP SAVES MAOIST HE HIMSELF SHOT IN CHHATTISGARH

The officer first shot at him and then saved his life. Hit by a bullet, Somaru, a Maoist commander, owes his life to an IPS officer who had engaged him in a fierce gun battle last week in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh’s Bastar.

“Saheb saved my life,” says Somaru, referring to Dantewada’s additional superintendent of police Abhishek Pallav, as he recovers at a hospital.

Somara, who has a bounty of ₹1 lakh, was hit in the abdomen by a bullet on March 18 during the seven-hour long encounter that left five Maoists and two policemen dead.

“Time was the key: he was losing blood profusely. Being a trained doctor I could not have looked the other way,” Pallav said. “If he had bled for even a few more minutes, he would have died.”

But sending Somaru to the hospital was easier said than done. With their colleagues dead, the cops bayed for Somaru’s blood.

Pallav reasoned with his men and they finally relented, allowing Somaru be taken to the government hospital.

Pallav’s act has earned him fulsome praise from his higherups — and yielded valuable intelligence on the Maoists.

“What the officer has done is a brilliant example of how rules of engagement should be followed,” said DM Awasthi, the special director general of Chhattisgarh police.

Saving Somaru was also a good idea since he is a treasure trove of information on the Maoists. Police say a grateful Somaru is now singing like a canary and divulging secrets.