Date:05/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/05/stories/2008070554980100.htm

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Police ‘probe’ reveals Greyhounds’ foibles

N. Rahul

‘Information about the launch trip leaked three days in advance’

HYDERABAD: A post-mortem of the tragedy that struck the Greyhound party at Chitrakonda in Orissa has revealed that there was carelessness on their part in returning from the forest over the waterway after the combing operation.

A senior police official who studied the incident in detail disclosed that information about the possibility of the Greyhounds personnel using the launch was leaked to someone at the originating point three days in advance. He told The Hindu that this person could have tipped off the Maoists.

A thing that stood out in the internal assessment by police was the “recklessness” with which the force acted in retreating from the forest. The two units of Greyhounds from Visakhapatnam base, comprising 55 men, chose to travel by the launch despite knowing pretty well that the route was fully “exposed” to the Maoists.

Senior police officers claimed that the Greyhounds personnel had travelled by the river several times in the past, repeating the mistake. They believe that this human error did the party in.

It was human instinct that the men who walked through rain in hostile terrain for three-and-a-half days should choose the short cut methods to return to the base.

Nonetheless, they did not ignore the cardinal principle followed in combing operations that the return journey should be by a route different from the one used upward.

The launch was the most convenient mode of transport for this highly tired force that trekked the forest with kits and weapons.

Take a nap

The men had invariably taken a nap or relaxed as the launch cut through the water for five hours in the past.

Police officials were shocked that the Greyhounds continued to use launches though they were attacked by Maoists from the banks of river Krishna twice previously. A constable also died when he tried to jump into the river to avoid firing.

He was fatally injured in the head as he took the hit of the steering wheel. On another occasion, the Maoists had steered a launch with over 40 tourists on board from Nagarjunasagar to Nandikonda. The launch was burnt later.