Rebels turn sadists, kill & castrate cop
The Times of India
February 18, 2008

The Maoists’ brutality peaked during their attack on Nayagarh on Friday night. They burnt one policeman alive, stabbed and shot hiding cops and castrated a constable. Rarely has such sadism been witnessed in the state.

Sweeper Bhola Nayak, posted at Nayagarh police station, dared to argue with the marauders after his chief, ASI Dandapani Mishra, was riddled with bullets. For this, he was set ablaze, police said.

Constable Sontosh Bai had shot at the ultras and managed to reach a vantage point atop the reserve police office near the police station, but the terrorists used a ladder to climb the building and shot him from behind. They then castrated him.

At Mahipur police outpost, ASI R K Sahu was resting when a group of Maoists struck. Unarmed and with only three men at his disposal, Sahu and his men were unable to escape as the ultras had surrounded the building and were firing indiscriminately. Sahu hid under the bed, while the three others hid behind the walls. But the guerrillas entered the buildings, stabbed Sahu repeatedly with bayonets, dragged him out and shot him from point blank range. Watchman Ananda Nayak was similarly killed. Constable P C Jani is battling injuries, while a bleeding guard Chintamani Sahu managed to flee.

A few kilometres away, Srinivas Behera was manning the Nuagaon police station alone. As he tried to escape, he was caught and hacked to pieces. Drill SI Somanath Swain, havildars Shatrughana Panda and R K Pradhan and trainee sepoy Reuben Ekka also fell to Maoist bullets at the Police Training School, as did other colleagues.

The police personnel were unprepared and unarmed. Some fought back, but they were totally outnumbered, a senior cop said, describing the Maoist offensive in Nayagarh as the most well-organised in Orissa.

A woman constable, Sukanti Pradhan, fell after being hit and was taken for dead. “Many Maoists trampled on me,’’ she said at Nayagarh district HQ hospital. She has no bullet wounds, but is severely bruised. TNN