Dantewada blast: Police releases photo of IED blast’s mastermind

Bastar Police revealed the photos of the Aranpur bomb’s mastermind and announced a cash reward for naxals involved in the crime, making progress in the ongoing Dantewada blast probe.

Ten DRG personnel and a civilian driver were killed on April 26 when rebels detonated an IED on Aranpur Road. Jagdish has been identified as the mastermind.

“As per the investigation findings, it came to light that the dreaded naxal cadre Jagdish has allegedly hatched the plan of triggering an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) blast leaving 10 DRG personnel and a civilian driver dead in Dantewada,” said police officials.

According to authorities, Jagdish’s wife, Hemla, a Class 8th pass and Sukma district native, is the commander of the illegal organization’s doctor’s squad in the Darbha division.

“Jagrish’s father-in-law Vinod Hemla is active as the incharge of the Kanger Ghati Area Committee,” said officials, elaborating that as per the intelligence inputs, the Darbha division committee of CPI (Maoist) would be involved in the blast.

“Police have announced cash reward on the naxal cadres involved in the blast and according to the intelligence inputs coupled with technical evidence, Jagdish was allegedly spotted near the blast site and he had hatched the conspiracy of triggering the blast,” informed officials.

The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that killed 10 DFG men and a driver in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada on Wednesday was planted by Naxals at least two months ago using a ‘foxhole mechanism,’ according to Bastar Police.

According to the authorities, the Naxals put the IED beneath the road by excavating a tunnel through a ‘foxhole mechanism,’ a kind of tunnel digging that makes it untraceable.

“De-mining is done on the said road from time to time. Prima-facie it appears that the IED was planted far below the road through ‘foxhole mechanism’ (a style of digging tunnel) due to which it could not be detected during the de-mining exercise,” the police said.

According to the authorities, the IED was planted around a month and a half ago by excavating a tunnel roadside, and the cable linked to it was hidden 2-3 inches into the ground.

According to the findings of the investigation, police have recorded an offence against naxal cadres such as Chaitu, Deva, Mangtu, Ransai, Jailal, Baman, Some, Rakesh, Bhima, and others under Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 302, the Arms Act, the UAPA Act, and other statutes.