'Maoists took orders from commanders on wireless'

RAIPUR/JAGDALPUR: “They were talking to their commanders and getting instructions on walkie-talkies,” said Niketan, Nand Kumar Patel’s wounded driver who survived Maoists’ Saturday slaughter. Niketan said he heard the Maoists say that they had fixed the frequencies of their wireless sets to police’s and listened to the details of the security arrangements as well as the exact sequence of cars in the convoy.
The survivors claimed some Maoists were wounded as well.
After the first explosion, more than 20 vehicles braked and bunched up. State congress chief Patel was in a car in the front while Mahendra Karma was at the rear. One group of Maoists took away Karma as soon as he revealed his identity. Karma’s associate Syed Sattar Ali said he heard one of the guerillas speak to his colleague on the wireless. “He said, ‘We have Karma. Do you have Nand Kumar Patel?’ I could not hear the answer but I heard him next, ‘Kaun kaun hai? Lakhma hai wahan pe?’ ” Ali recalled.
Lakhan Singh, Karma’s personal security officer, said the Maoists had AK-47s, other rifles and grenades. There were both men and women Maoists, aged between 18-25 years, expertly handling automatic weapons and exchanging messages on their wireless.
The attack seemed meticulously planned and the rebels were glad with its execution. “They said, ‘Kahan hai tumhari Central force, state force? Bulao unko bachane?’ ”said Malkit Singh, Karma’s driver.
Shiv Narayan Dwivedi is not sure what shocked him more: the fact that the Maoists shot at him or that they saved him. As Dwivedi lay bleeding at the site of the mayhem, the 45-year-old Congress worker, a doctor by profession, had given up hope. His handkerchief could no longer stem the blood flowing out of the bullet wound on his right elbow. As a last resort, he turned to the Maoists and pleaded for help.
“I am a doctor, I save lives. Show some humanity,” he said. To his surprise, a woman Maoist brought out a medical kit, bandaged his wound, and administered an injection. “I was stunned, yet grateful,” said Dwivedi, who is in a Raipur hospital.
Even as the Maoists performed their death dance, more survivor accounts reveal that the insurgents were mindful about limiting casualties once they had identified and isolated their targets: Patel and Karma. They even released those they are normally first to eliminate: armed policemen who were part of the convoy as PSOs. And perhaps unknowingly, they allowed two Salwa Judum leaders on their hit-list to escape as well.
Sattar Ali, a Salwa Judum leader, said the firing stopped as soon as Karma stood up and surrendered. Karma’s hands were tied and he was taken into the forest. Not far from where he was held, around 40 people including Sattar and Dwivedi were rounded up and made to lie on their stomachs. “We could hear them spray bullets on Karma ji,” said Sattar.
“I thought it was all over,” said Dwivedi. But the Maoists then turned to the captive group and asked them to identify themselves. The doctor used the opportunity to underline his profession. Sattar on the other hand covered up his Judum past. “I gave them a false name. I said I was an ordinary party worker from Raipur and my name was Rahim,” Sattar said.
The Maoists gave them water and medicines and declared they did not wish to harm anyone. They said their targets were Karma and Patel. After raising their “revolutionary” slogans, they melted away.