SPO proved the nemesis!

NUAPADA: He was inducted into the outfit to help the ultras learn Oriya to facilitate their growth in the region. But he deserted them, which proved to be his nemesis and that of the eight police personnel of Chhattisgarh.   Slain Special Police Officer (SPO) Goura Jhankar (20) was on the hit-list of the Maoists since then. The ultras killed him and eight other cops in an ambush inside Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary on Monday.  It was about two years back, the smart and intelligent lad was handpicked and introduced into the banned outfit by Maoists Lalchand and Kailash to help the comrades learn Oriya in an attempt to spread their tentacles in Balangir and Bargarh besides Nuapada. He had passed Class VIII from Sunabeda TRW School and was aware of the topography and knew the area like the back of his hand.It is said that his late father Tikeram Jhankar had a soft corner for the outfit till he was killed in an encounter in Jharbandh in Mahasammund area some seven months back. And this helped another comrade Baldev to brainwash Goura to join the outfit.Soon after the death of his father, the Chhattisgarh Police came looking for him and motivated him to join as Special Police Officer, incurring the Maoists’ wrath.Since then he was under threat along with his mother Urmi, sister Gouri (17) and brothers Chandu (13) and Dharam (10) in Thalipani village under Sunabeda gram panchayat. He was the lone bread-winner for the family and in contact with both the Nuapada and Chhattisgarh Police. It is said that because of his knowledge of local terrain and the people, he had accompanied the Chhattisgarh Police to identify a suspected Maoist.Meanwhile, the body of Goura reached Nuapada on Tuesday night after autopsy in Chhattisgarh. It was sent to his village on Wednesday morning after District Collector Janaki Ballav Mishra and SP Rajesh Pandit besides other officials paid floral tributes.