File pictures of a BSF chopper landing at Sonari before air surveillance in Saranda forests during Operation Black Thunder and (below) CRPF commandant Nitesh Kumar who is on medical leave after being a landmine target on Sept. 25

Jamshedpur, Oct. 3: Nitesh Kumar was leading a team of jawans deep inside Saranda forests when Maoists struck. Moments later, he realised he and two others were hit. Was it a gun shot? Or, was it an IED?

It wasn’t meant to be that way, he wondered.

On medical leave now, 30-year-old Nitesh Kumar is recovering from splinter injuries in the head and in the arm seven days after his team became an unsuspecting target of a landmine blast on September 25, Day One of Operation Black Thunder that was wound up temporarily after five days on September 29.

On the trail of 30 rebels who had set up an operational capital in Tirilposi under Manoharpur block of adjoining West Singhbhum, about 160km from Jamshedpur, his compatriots, police jawans Jehangir Khan and Rajiv Ranjan, did not make it.

He did, but can’t stop thinking how. “I am lucky to be alive. There is no chance of survival when one is in the epicentre of a blast. I was about 30-35 metres from the place where the blast occurred. The distance probably saved my life,” Kumar said.

Kumar, who is from Pirhauli village in Bihar and had joined the CRPF as an officer in 2005, is now on medical leave, recovering at his Jamshedpur home.

“The gash on my forehead is very deep. My hand has also been injured. I stay at home but have to visit our headquarters in Adityapur for treatment,” he told The Telegraph.

Speaking from experience — he joined the CRPF in 2005 — the 30-year-old assistant commandant with the 7th battalion said splinters embedded in heavier bombs tended to fly longer distances.

“It all depends on the weight of a bomb. I think the bomb which exploded at Tirulposi was of less weight, but the impact was severe,” he added.

It was “quick clot”, a chemical healing agent, that helped him survive. “Initially, I was not sure whether it was a blast or a gun shot. I realised what it was when splinters got embedded in my forehead and arm. I remained conscious. I bled profusely. But, the rebels continued to rain bullets and blast landmines. My bodyguard applied quick clot on my wounds. Soon the bleeding stopped,” he recalled.

According to Kumar, a radio operator informed the CRPF base camp at Digha, over 400 m from Tirilposi, about their injuries. Two choppers were requisitioned to pick them up, but none arrived. Kumar, therefore had to be shifted to Rourkela Steel Plant Hospital, by road.

“I was told that one of the helicopters had developed a snag. We travelled to Rourkela in a van, touching Digha and Bhalulata. It was evening by the time I was admitted there. Doctors released me the next day,” he said.

Kumar has been advised rest till his wounds heal. Resting at home all he can think of now is what may have gone wrong. He had never been injured before, although he has been part of three extremely gruelling encounter operations.

“It is the first time I’ve been injured. I was posted at the Naxalite bastion of Chhotanagra in West Singhbhum during last year’s Assembly elections. I was also part of an encounter team that fought rebels near Bhadodih village in Patamda block of East Singhbhum last year. I also took part in the operation at Bodam in March this year,” he said.