Police suspended over Gadchiroli attack

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Friday suspended a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Gadchiroli district for not following laid down procedures, which led to the May 1 Naxal attack in Gadchiroli. The attack had left 15 police personnel dead.

The suspension of Shailesh Kale, SDPO of Kurkheda in Gadchiroli district, was announced in the Legislative Council by Deepak Kesarkar, minister of state for home.

The issue was raised through a calling attention motion by Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde.

Mr Munde blamed the SDPO for negligence and demanded his immediate suspension. He also requ-ested the government to provide a job to the kin of the martyrs’.

Replying to the same, Mr Kesarkar said, “Mr Kale did not follow standard operating procedures (SOPs), which led to casualties in the Naxal attack”.

“There are laid down procedures and none of them were followed. We will suspend the official Friday itself,” Mr Kesarkar added.

The minister also promised that the kin of all the slain policemen would be provided jobs within eight days.

Mr Kale had apparently ordered his staff to travel to a location in the Naxal-affected and tribal-dominated district.

En-route, the police personnel, who were travelling in a private vehicle, came under attack from the Naxals.

As many as 15 police personnel and the private vehicle's driver were killed when the Naxals triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) blast.