The drunk JAP commando gives order to a rickshawpuller at Albert Ekka Chowk. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Aug. 23: A Black Cat commando of Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) in an inebriated condition today drew the attention of commuters at Albert Ekka Chowk from 9am to 12noon.

The drunk man kept misbehaving with all those coming in his way on the stretch between Albert Ekka Chowk and Sarjana Chowk.

Dangling an assault rifle over his shoulders and a stick in his hand, eyewitnesses said, the commando was busy manning traffic in the heart of the town.

At times, he was hitting on autorickshaws with the stick and was passing comments on bypassers violating traffic rules. He seemed so agitated that no one dared to restrain him from his activities.

“At first, we thought the commando might have been deployed under some special drive to manage the city traffic in the light of the recent Jharkhand High Court decision, but later realised that he was not in his normal self,” said an eyewitness.

Fearing possible misuse of the firearm, someone apprised superintendent of police Richard Lakra, busy in a crime meeting, about the commando.

“I informed Lakra about the armed commando over my cellphone. He promptly sent a police team to check on the man. The team identified the commando as Abraham Toppo and somehow managed to take him along. But no one revealed where the commando was deployed,” said sources.

Lakra, however, denied the information. Superintendent of police (traffic) Dadanjee Sharma also expressed amazement over the incident. “Neither did I depute any commando on traffic duty nor do I have any idea of deputing them on such a task in the future. One should immediately report in case he or she notices any unusual person manning traffic on any road,” he said.

Police sources, however, said that the Black Cat commando was a hawaldar brought for maintaining law and order duty in the city. “Anticipating a victory procession after the release of JMM leader from the jail, our seniors had called for some commandos from police lines for maintaining law and order. The commando was accommodated at Kotwali police station. The idle commando had some drinks and began to man the traffic without any order. Though he was not harming anyone, we managed to bring him back to the police station. The commando was hard-working and very dutiful,” said sources at Kotwali police station .

Seeing a commando without any superiors, terrified commuters recalled a similar instance. On November 3, 2001, a JAP sub-inspector (SI) was shot dead by a JAP commando inside Topchanchi police station in Dhanbad district.

Both SI Om Thapa and JAP commando Anil Thapa were brought from Ranchi and posted at the police station following an attack on a nearby police picket by Naxalites in which 13 policemen were killed.