A CRPF officer - twice decorated with gallantry medals - bled for hours after taking four bullets from the Maoists as the Indian Air Force (IAF) 'dithered' on evacuation. Finally, the BSF had to step in to save his life. In the wake of the early Tuesday encounter in Jharkhand's Chatra district, the Union home ministry and the IAF have again indulged in blame game over the fight against the rebels. Sources in the home ministry said the IAF did not agree to rescue three seriously injured security personnel from a forested area in Chatra, citing thick cloud cover in the region.
Among the injured was CRPF deputy commandant P.R. Mishra who was shot four times - thrice in his back and once in the shoulder. Mishra was awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry on Republic Day this year, besides the Police Medal for Gallantry earlier. With the IAF chopper not coming to help, a Dhruv helicopter of the BSF finally rescued the officer and two other injured personnel who were later admitted to Apollo Hospital in Ranchi. They are out of danger now.
"But for the evacuation, Mishra may have died at the spot because of excessive blood loss. The BSF chopper managed to conduct the rescue in the same weather conditions which the IAF found unsafe," a home ministry source said. Ministry sources said a call was made to the IAF at 5.30 am for sending a chopper from Ranchi to rescue the injured men, but the IAF refused citing heavy cloud cover. "A BSF Dhruv chopper stationed at Ranchi was then deployed which rescued the men," a source said.
Sources in the IAF, meanwhile, rubbished the version put out by the MHA. They said the IAF promptly responded to the SOS call at 5.30 am, and an MI17 chopper left for the spot in Chatra at 6.20 am. "But when the IAF chopper neared the spot of the encounter, heavy cloud cover, till tree-top level, made it impossible for the chopper to penetrate and land at the spot. Hence, there was no option but to return to the base in Ranchi," an IAF source said.
"The IAF decided to attempt one more sortie at 8.30 am but we were told that a BSF chopper was already airborne from another location for the rescue operation," the source added. Mishra, CRPF constable Mukesh Soni, who was shot in the eye, and a Jharkhand Police constable, Sanjay Yadav, were finally admitted to Apollo Hospital around 9 am, four hours after they were shot. Five top Maoist cadres, including sub-zonal commander Raghuvansh Yadav, are also believed to have been killed in the gun-battle that was triggered after CRPF's CoBRA battalion and the district police launched a joint combing operation in Judi village. MHA sources contend that IAF invariably shies away from rescue operations in combat situations though they are said to have the mandate to fire back in self-defence.
However, IAF sources said that earlier this month, the IAF rescued eight badly-wounded CRPF men from an encounter site in Gaya which was amid a combat situation where bullets were flying in all directions. The MHA and the IAF have earlier too sparred over rescue operations in Maoist-hit areas, with the former even lodging a protest on one occasion with the defence ministry over the matter. Two IAF choppers are stationed at Ranchi for rescue works during anti-Maoist operations while there is one BSF Dhruv chopper in the state capital for the same purpose.
Read more at: BSF rescues injured CRPF officer after IAF 'dithers' on vital evacuation : East, News - India Today
Among the injured was CRPF deputy commandant P.R. Mishra who was shot four times - thrice in his back and once in the shoulder. Mishra was awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry on Republic Day this year, besides the Police Medal for Gallantry earlier. With the IAF chopper not coming to help, a Dhruv helicopter of the BSF finally rescued the officer and two other injured personnel who were later admitted to Apollo Hospital in Ranchi. They are out of danger now.
"But for the evacuation, Mishra may have died at the spot because of excessive blood loss. The BSF chopper managed to conduct the rescue in the same weather conditions which the IAF found unsafe," a home ministry source said. Ministry sources said a call was made to the IAF at 5.30 am for sending a chopper from Ranchi to rescue the injured men, but the IAF refused citing heavy cloud cover. "A BSF Dhruv chopper stationed at Ranchi was then deployed which rescued the men," a source said.
Sources in the IAF, meanwhile, rubbished the version put out by the MHA. They said the IAF promptly responded to the SOS call at 5.30 am, and an MI17 chopper left for the spot in Chatra at 6.20 am. "But when the IAF chopper neared the spot of the encounter, heavy cloud cover, till tree-top level, made it impossible for the chopper to penetrate and land at the spot. Hence, there was no option but to return to the base in Ranchi," an IAF source said.
"The IAF decided to attempt one more sortie at 8.30 am but we were told that a BSF chopper was already airborne from another location for the rescue operation," the source added. Mishra, CRPF constable Mukesh Soni, who was shot in the eye, and a Jharkhand Police constable, Sanjay Yadav, were finally admitted to Apollo Hospital around 9 am, four hours after they were shot. Five top Maoist cadres, including sub-zonal commander Raghuvansh Yadav, are also believed to have been killed in the gun-battle that was triggered after CRPF's CoBRA battalion and the district police launched a joint combing operation in Judi village. MHA sources contend that IAF invariably shies away from rescue operations in combat situations though they are said to have the mandate to fire back in self-defence.
However, IAF sources said that earlier this month, the IAF rescued eight badly-wounded CRPF men from an encounter site in Gaya which was amid a combat situation where bullets were flying in all directions. The MHA and the IAF have earlier too sparred over rescue operations in Maoist-hit areas, with the former even lodging a protest on one occasion with the defence ministry over the matter. Two IAF choppers are stationed at Ranchi for rescue works during anti-Maoist operations while there is one BSF Dhruv chopper in the state capital for the same purpose.
Read more at: BSF rescues injured CRPF officer after IAF 'dithers' on vital evacuation : East, News - India Today
