Defending their action in the June 28-29 “encounter” with Naxals at Sarkeguda in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, in which 17 tribals, including a number of innocents, were said to be killed, the CRPF jawans, injured in the incident, said here on Monday, “Had we not returned the fire, all the 200 troopers taking part in the operation would have been gunned down”.
“We had only fired in defence after we drew firing from Naxals at Sarkeguda on the fateful day. Despite the provocation by the ultras, we had exercised maximum restraint and avoided knee jerk reaction while responding to the Naxal attack”, Arnab Ghosh, one of the six injured jawans undergoing treatment in a private specialised hospital here, told this newspaper on Monday. “We were attacked with not only ordinary fire arms but also sophisticated automatic weapons. It was clear from sounds of firings that some high-tech weapons were also used by Naxals. The situation was very serious. Had we not defended ourselves with retaliatory firing, all the 200 jawans including some state police force personnel would have been killed in the encounter”, K. Rajan, another CRPF trooper, wounded in the incident, said. “We were encountering death in every step in Bastar. We are only serving the country. We are painted at being painted as killers of innocent people”, the injured troopers said. According to them, a contingent of around 200 jawans, including some policemen, had started from CRPF’s Basaguda camp at around 10 PM on June 28 to enter the jungle for operation against the Naxals.