The CD showing barbaric killing of 77 security personnel — 76 CRPF and one policeman — by Naxals at Tadmetla in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on April 6, 2010, videographed by the ultras, has shocked the top level officers at the police headquarters (PHQ) here, sources said here on Wednesday.
The video, which was screened before senior police officers at the PHQ a couple of days back, was found to be genuine by a forensic test, a senior police officer told this newspaper requesting not to be quoted.
“The Naxals appeared to have video-graphed the deadly ambush on a large contingent of CRPF in Tadmetla forest minutely, from the moment the forces entered the jungle to trapping them in a low lying area in the forest and then killing them in cold blood. The sight of killing the jawans in a gruesome manner, as shown in the CD, is utterly shocking and depressing,” the police officer said.
The video showed how the ultras were chasing the contingent in the forest for three days before ambushing them at their chosen site. It also exhibited elaborately how the rebels mounted on tree tops to monitor movements of the forest and alert the armed ultras deployed at the ground accordingly.
The rebels also video-graphed the attack by them on the relief personnel who arrived at the encounter site to retrieve bodies of the jawans and the rescue the injured troopers. Police sources said the CD clearly established that the Tadmetla tragedy, considered the worst in the history of Left-wing insurgency in Chhattisgarh, was pre-planned. The rebels have video-graphed the ambush to demonstrate their power among the local tribals.