With the end of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, the West Midnapore police has heaved a sigh of relief. The district police had received an intelligence alert against a Maoist attack on some police camps during the world cup, citing instances of police personnel leaving the camps to watch the matches.
The report had claimed that “some of the police personnel including sentries deployed in the police camps were leaving their posts and sneaking into the adjoining villages to watch the ongoing football World Cup matches.” This “dangerous trend” was noticed specially on nights when Argentina or Brazil played. The camps in Salboni, Jhargram and Belpahari were specially termed vulnerable for such an attack.
The “low level of preparedness” among the forces, specially during a time when the Maoists are planning to avenge the death of the their all India spokesperson Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, gave the top police officials sleepless nights.
A verbal order was issued alerting all the police camps in the district to strengthen vigil in and around the camp areas, specially during the World Cup, citing the apprehension of a Maoist attack.
Counter raids were also carried out in villages where the police expected to catch the Maoists watching the matches. The Maoists, however, never proved as indulgent as the police.