by David Singh
The three primary reasons to choose Colt AR15 A3 Tactical Carbine was its lightweight, accuracy and convenient maneuver in jungle grounds with its 16 inches long barrel.
The arsenal completed with a set of six commando knives, a pack of half a dozen M84 stun grenades and a dozen MK3A2 concussion grenades and last but not the least, a special extended 30 round magazine Semi Auto Glock pistol that could fire 5.56X44mm slugs with 800 rounds per minute rate to drop the target dead at 300 meters distance.
'We need one sniper, here, in the East,' Makker was addressing an attentive audience including Samarjeet, Raju and his twelve men standing around the hand drawn map, 'to shoot anyone who emerges from the exit of the temple ruins. Raju I want you to put your best crack shot here.'
'Som!' Raju addressed one of his men. 'You will hold the sniper position here.'
'Okay dada.' Som replied with a wide grin, eyeing the Semi Automatic Knights SR 25 Sniper Rifle kept on the table as part of the arsenal brought in by Elite 5 for Raju and his men.
'Yeah.' Makker smiled. 'That sexy lady is yours Som. These two days you need to practice with it. Love her and she will return it by killing those whom you hate.'
A light laughter erupted among the group.
Makker and Samarjeet had parachuted just one hour back and the meeting was in the same safe cluster of huts occupied by Raju and his men.
Makker continued, 'that leaves twelve men including you, Raju. You will lead your seven men on this west side to launch a full assault. The purpose is to engage as much manpower of the enemy and inflicting as much casualty as possible. This will give us time to extract Killer – our man – and Majumdar to make them board the Nelcopter.'
'What is nelcopter?' Raju asked.
'You will know when it will appear from nowhere in the sky at the right moment.' Makker replied smiling and continued, 'your team will commence fire only on my signal, not before that, come what may. Entire extraction process will take twelve minutes. The formation of the group will be like this…' Makker paused to draw an inverted V shape on the earthen ground. '…with two leading men assuming firing position prone on their bellies – four meters apart, the second pair on the knees – eight meters apart, the third pair on the knees – sixteen meters apart and the last pair standing – twenty four meters apart, all firing straight ahead thus creating a grid of bullets ensuring maximum enemy casualties.' Makker paused to let the explanation settle down.
Everyone nodded slowly.
'Any questions so far?'
After a brief silence, Raju said. 'No, carry on.'
'The rest of the four men will cover your behind with enough grenades. They will hold the fort right behind you taking care of any threat approaching you from behind.'
'What about you two?' Raju asked the obvious question.
'I shall enter through the dry well and break in through the iron door. Retriever will enter the ruins from the front – your opposite side, here.'
'Front! How come? Some sort of black magic to go invisible? That seems to be the only way to enter from the front, alive.' Chandan mocked with a friendly air.
'Magic or not, that's not for you to worry.' Samarjeet replied, smiling. 'Point is that, Terminator and I will be in, among the enemy, after the signal from the Hole – our mission command room.'
'Once we are in,' Makker took back the thread of conversation, 'the Hole will signal the Nelcopter to move ahead. Nelcopter will take seven minutes to reach the target.'
Chandan raised his hand, Makker stopped then Chandan asked, 'how will….your….Hole…come to know that you are inside the basement?'
'We will have a communication network working on radio waves and satellite up above during the action.' Makker replied, 'Raju and Chandan, you both will be in touch with the radio given to you. Chandan, you will lead your men and will comply with Raju's commands. Entire mission control is in my hands from now onwards. All will move as I'll say for the sake of mission and for the team. One independent wrong move will jeopardize entire team and mission as well. So, Raju and my team will take commands from me, Chandan from Raju and others from Chandan however in critical situation I may command directly to anybody. During the mission, when bullets will fly making no consideration of friend and foe, I want complete coordination. Is that clear?'
Raju and all his men nodded.
'Is that clear!!!!!' Makker roared, looking into everyone's eyes.
'It is clear.' All replied as if shaken out of slumber.
'That's what looks like Salwa Judum reloaded!' He smiled seeing the boosted up morale and continued, 'Destroyer and Wiper, from Nelcopter, will blow away the ruins and the top of the basement. That would be a signal for me and Retriever to act. We shall extract Majumdar and Killer and Nelcopter will take away Majumdar. Once Majumdar is away in Nelcopter unharmed, mission is over. How Retriever and I will escape, is our problem. Raju! You and your men should have a plan to leave the action zone alive.'
'We have.' Raju replied. 'Once I am convinced that coward Majumdar is taken out, I and my men will disappear in the jungle. Don't worry about that. We'll meet back here.'
'We will spend these two days practicing all the gadgets and weapons. I don't want you to take bullet while fiddling with unfamiliar controls.' Makker concluded the briefing.
What Raju and his men didn't know that all the rifles provided to them had a GPS chip embedded for Elite 5 to monitor their movements around the jungleground.
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CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
February 14, 2014
Dandakaranya, Chhattisgarh
Malwanker followed the pattern as earlier Samarjeet had
discussed with him. To detect and avoid any tail on him, he reached the rendezvous – a tuft of thick foliage beside a big rock – but didn't stop there. Instead, he walked past another fifty meters knowing that if Samarjeet has returned back to the jungle, he would be hiding somewhere around and would not miss the tail on him, if any.
After covering the fifty meters' distance, he took a U turn and came back to the rendezvous. He didn't find Samarjeet there. That meant two things: Either Samarjeet had not returned or he is there and has spotted his tail. He waited, counting till ten, silently. Exactly after the count was finished, he heard an unusual cry of the local bird Mynah. That was the expected signal – Samarjeet was telling him that a tail has been spotted. Now he knew that Samarjeet would not come into the view until the tail is shrugged off. He began thinking some way to get rid of the tail. But first he had to spot the tail and that required moving out of the dense foliage. He began moving in the direction of the river stream. Most of the area on the banks of the stream was devoid of any trees. He had hardly moved a few yards to take a left turn when the thick bushes on his left suddenly came alive, pounced at him and dragged him into the green cover. His heart leapt into his mouth for a while. His mouth had been clamped by a powerful hand rendering him mute. This all happened incredibly noiselessly and in a flash. Before he could figure out what really had happened, he was lying on the ground with Samarjeet beside him. He wondered how a lean and mean Samarjeet could be so swift and powerful to drag his seventy five kilograms body noiselessly. This was a clear demonstration of remarkable jungle combat skill. Then he noted another man next to Samarjeet. Samarjeet and his companion were in perfect camouflage of green foliage.
Samarjeet signaled him to keep quiet and peep through the foliage out onto the dusty narrow terrain. They all watched silently. After a few moments the tail appeared – a young man, a carbine in his hand, was coming down the dust track looking around with a blend of confusion, alarm and a faint trace of worry on his face. He came nearer, halted for a while on the turn, standing right over the heads of the three men holding their breaths and then moved on.
'Oh my God. This is Jairam.' Malwanker whispered. 'Let's move to your luxury stay and talk.' Samarjeet said. ? When Samarjeet moved off on the pretext of taking Makker to show around the GPS based escape route to be used after the mission, Raj
u called his men together.
'You all have listened to their plan.'
Everyone nodded.
'These fools have given us everything we need to kill them. As Terminator has briefed, we need to follow inverted V formation for assault on one side. He has, very cunningly, put us all in one place so that we do not emerge as a threat at anytime. On the other side they will extract Majumdar and deport him off in the aircraft. Our prime aim is to kill Majumdar. Now, this task will be done by Som.' 'Yes dada.' Som replied.
'Som. Your rifle will blow away Majumdar's head. Then you will hold position and take as much of these men as possible. Don't worry, our other secret troop of twenty men will attack from the opposite side at the same time. Is that clear?'
'Yes dada.' 'Once Majumdar is killed, we don't need to go after these men. They will be too shocked by then seeing how their mission has been devastated. They will be asked to abort and return, following their GPS route. Game over.'
Everyone cheered in anticipation.
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Introductions were quickly made, along the way to Malwanker's cave. Makker was instantly impressed with Malwanker's demeanour. He spent some time looking at the videos and pictures shot by Malwanker so far. Finally he responded. 'These Shetty and Ramdas are real devils.'
Malwanker replied, 'just puppets. Real devil is someone else.' Malwanker, then, related the adventure of his capture and escape in detail.
'You are the real rare stuff CRAF has ever created.' Samarjeet replied in admiration after Malwanker had finished.
'So, they have a tunnel made from the ruins of the temple till Hashima premises.' Makker said, 'but why?'
'There could only be one purpose behind this.' Malwanker said in
a firm tone – sure of himself, 'devastation.'
'They are planning to blow away Hashima office? To settle the
account for displaced tribals and their land grab.' Samarjeet took
Malwanker's point.
'Yes. Hashima's security is too heavy for them to attack from
outside so they have either made a tunnel or discovered one or a
combination of both, to enter the premises stealthily.' Malwanker
said. 'I told you, this Majumdar had been a civil engineer. He is very
cunning and clever.'
'And an experienced guerilla warrior too. He seems to know who
you are.' Makker said. 'They are following you and now their doubts
might be affirmed since Jairam might be wondering where you have
disappeared suddenly. Now they know that you know too. This is a
dangerous situation.'
'But I have no choice. I will have to take the risk.' Malwanker said. Samarjeet suggested. 'I think they don't want to kill you instantly
otherwise they wouldn't have had you tailed quietly. I think they are
trying to discover more about you. Now think why?'
'Why?'
'Because they are confused about your intentions. Recall what
you have done for them so far. You saved a tribal girl from being raped
and her family from your own men. Then you killed another of your
men during the ambush at contractor's residence. They have not been
attacked by CRAF recently since you have joined them. Instead, you
have been attacked twice – in their knowledge – by CRAF men. You
are a strange blend of friend and foe for them.'
'I have got one more thing.' Malwanker said. 'I guess Rajanna is in
cahoots with Ramdas…but…I'm not sure.'
'What makes you guess that?'
'I had played a bluff mentioning Rajanna being their ally to
Ramdas. His expressions had changed drastically for a moment.
That's a proof that my bluff could be a fact but…not a solid one. If my
hunch is true then Ramdas's big daddy could be using Rajanna to kill
Majumdar and CRAF team to kill me.'
No one had anything concrete to offer. Confusion was persistent. Finally, Makker said, 'first things first, we have got a gift for you.' Makker pulled out a sleek SR 25 Sniper Rifle from the jute bag
and proffered to Malwanker, 'you will remove any threats and barriers
that will come my way while entering the dry well. And then take
Raju, if he seems to be a threat.'
Malwanker gave him a puzzled look.
'Hold on. I'll explain you in detail what mischief we are up to.'
Makker winked, pulling out a map off his pocket.
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Majumdar looked at each of the men, silently, taking his time.
One by one, their eyes met and then each of the three men dropped
the gaze out of respect. Then he said in a solemn voice. 'You three are
my most trusted men.'
Raghav, Balu and Venkat gave a very imperceptible nod. 'Because of you three, I am alive today and this revolution
too…..that's the reason, I haven't revealed the complete abduction
plan to the entire group.'
The three pairs of eyes widened with little surprise and curiosity.
Majumdar smiled and continued, 'all my field experience has taught
me some indispensable guerilla war tactics. My favourite is that never
show all your moves until the right time.' He signaled them to sit
down and sat himself on the nearby stone.
They all sat after him. Then he continued, 'the other tactic is
diversion and deception. After RK's abduction he will be brought to
the closed jeep. Then the plan will change completely.'
'What is it dada?' Balu asked.
'I have arranged two jeeps. Same make. Same colour. No number
plates.'
'Two jeeps?' Venkat blurted.
'One will be a decoy and the other will carry RK.'
'But why this hassle dada?' Raghav said, puzzled.
'Let me explain, while watching over and overhearing our traitor
Pissu, we could not hear what was being said from his handler from
the other side. We only know what Pissu had spoken so their complete
plan is still not clear but whatever we have figured out, and what my
gut feeling tells me, is that this time a very dangerous force is coming
after us. They are not only very meticulous and planned but they are
using hi-end technology. They succeeded in penetrating us. This has
happened for the first time. I am sure Pissu is being handled by RAW.' 'RAW!'
'Yes. RAW, the bunch of blood hounds on government duty. And
the way Pissu communicates in this jungle where mobile signals are
not available means advanced technology in use. Think! How the
commandos will discover where we are taking RK to? Answer is that
RK will surely be bugged. I bet my head on that. Before boarding him
on the jeep you will extract the tracking device from his person, put
that bug in the decoy jeep to fool the enemy and bring RK to me. The
decoy jeep will be stuffed with heavy explosive.'
'Explosive? Why?' Venkat asked.
'The jeep would make a death trap and the tracking device will
lure our enemies to it.'
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CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
February 15, 2014
Dandakaranya, Chhattisgarh
The switch was done smoothly. In Narayanpur, as planned,
Rajeshwar Karma's chopper couldn't start. Arrangements for Karma's stay were done in the government's VVIP guest house. Finally, when chopper couldn't be fixed, a convoy of cars with security cover was arranged for him. From the guest house, no one could figure out that had Gangwar emerged to board the designated Scorpio XUV. Except the personal bodyguards, who were sworn to secrecy, no one knew that spokesperson of the state government and it's party's national chie
f was now replaced by a commando. Carrying Gangwar in Karma's double role, the convoy commenced its journey.
Narayanpur to Chhota Dongar road is a black top tarmac stretch. The convoy left Narayanpur town and headed northeast towards the point, around 12 kms away, where the main road branched off into a right hand side, small, narrow black top road heading towards Chhota Dongar while continuing towards left as State Highway 5. On either side of the road was the expanse of fields. Over left side, far off, was Madamnar village and on the right hand side in far south, the dense line of jungle could be seen. The tree line of jungle was gradually approaching closer to touch the curve at the road some 4 kms ahead. The convoy covered the 4 kms soon. Now, the dense jungle was running parallel to the convoy on right hand side. After another six kilometers, the expected was seen on the road. The huge saal tree trunks were lying on the road, blocking it completely, leaving no option for any vehicle except for a U-Turn. The convoy halted near the tree trunks. It was 1315 hrs by military time when Operation Crimson Crackdown drifted into motion.
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'Why do we have two similar jeeps up there?'
'One is a decoy.'
'This wasn't the plan earlier.'
'Need-to-know basis. Less people know about this, lesser the chances of leak.'
'You think I would have told anybody?' 'Ask Bhanu dada when you return back. I am just following the orders.'
Raghav looked at the wrist watch without reading the time, signaling Venu that her questions were irritating him. Probably, she got the cue and didn't drag the argument further but she looked clearly upset to be left out of the trusted few.
Contrary to Pissu's information, instead of fifteen, there were fifty Naxals in the dense patch of trees parallel to SH 5.
Balu, Venkat and Raghav were leading the group. As they have been briefed, none of them was going to shoot until commanded by the leaders.
Balu was carrying the amplifier with its microphone dangling around his neck by the cord. He was most comfortable with the Hindi language. The night before, they had cut down the tree trunks and at noon they had laid them across the road. Half of the men, led by Venkat, were in waiting on the other side of the road lying down prone behind the scarce shrubbery since there were just a few trees scattered around. Venkat was in touch with Raghav and Balu on the other side through the handmade radio.