Maoists attack on CRPF vehicle

He didn't run away
from the line of fire

His story brings to mind Amitabh Bachchan's character in Kala Patthar, a film based on a 1900 classic Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, where the protagonist runs away from his duty, only to be court martialled. He spends the rest of his life trying to overcome that guilt.

CRPF commandant BK Toppo's story, however, has one crucial difference: He did not run away from the line of fire. On September 3 evening Toppo lost 24 of his colleagues in a powerful landmine blast in Dantewara orchestrated by Maoists.

"On realising that all the personnel with me had been killed in the landmine blast, for a moment I decided to run away from the site and save my life from the Maoists," Toppo confessed to The Pioneer. However, he was suddenly reminded of the condemnation Bachchan had to suffer in Kala Patthar. Toppo thereon decided to stay and despite his injuries picked up the rifle against his enemies.

In the highly popular film adaptation of Conrad's classic, Amitabh Bachchan plays the captain of a ship, who upon realising that the ship is about to sink, jumps out and escapes in a lifeboat. He is court martialled for this act. Out of repentance he comes to work in a colliery and in a moment of crisis at the mine redeems himself.

This became a source of inspiration for this cop. "I did not want to be condemned so I decided to fight the ultras," Toppo says, from his hospital bed in Raipur. He says he began firing incessantly in every direction and kept shouting, "Kill them, close in on them from the back, from the right, bomb them," all along misleading the ultras into thinking there were lots of survivors.

Except, only Toppo knew there was no one to follow his orders since of the 27 personnel on board the ill-fated vehicle, 24 were lying dead and the other two survivors apart from Toppo were in a critical condition Despite his injuries, this CRPF commandant, who captained the operation called "Green Hunt," was in no mood to allow the Maoists to loot the arms and ammunitions of the slain security forces. He therefore took up an AK 47 and kept firing in every direction.

"I started firing in different directions and giving commands in a bid to confuse the Maoists about our strength so that they could be prevented from taking away the arms and ammunition lying around," Toppo says. His courage and presence of mind paid off with the ultras failing to even come near the vehicle, let alone loot arms.

Toppo first started firing from inside the vehicle. After a while however he managed to get out and was able to move in different directions while firing. "I was identified by the enemies so I had to take my shirt off," Toppo recalls. Ultimately the ultras beat a retreat. "I am quite sure some of the ultras were shot by me but this cannot be verified because they do not leave their dead or injured behind," he added. An undaunted Toppo says, "I want to go back to the field as soon as possible to settle scores."

(Courtesy : The Pioneer)