Bokaro, Dec. 11: Bokaro Superintendent of police Manvinder Singh Bhatia today suspended three police officers, including two officers-in-charge of Nawadih police station and Bokaro thermal police stations, for neglecting their duties.

The three have been held responsible for neglecting their duties on December 2 when a mine explosion at Kanjkiro, 24 km from Jhumra, cost 13 Special Task Force (STF) jawans their lives, while three in the party were severely injured.

The three suspended officers include Pramod Kumar (OC) and B.K. Rajvanshi of Nawadih police station and Mohan Pandey (OC) of Bokaro thermal police station.

The two injured jawans are still admitted in the Bokaro General Hospital.

Both Pramod Kumar and Mohan Pandey have been found guilty of not leading their STF team on the fateful day. The team was on its way back after attaching the properties of Maoist sympathisers.

Rajvanshi has been charged of not taking enough precautionary measures before the operation.

His lapse, it has been suggested, gave Maoists ample time to plant the explosives, which blew up a culvert and the police minibus along with it, some 10 feet into the air. The second minibus filled with policemen fled after witnessing the scene.

According to Bhatia, the three officers did not follow necessary safety measures that are compulsory before a patrol team starts its expedition. Home secretary J.B. Tubid had earlier blamed the massacre on “human error”.

Bhatia further added that if the senior police personnel were alert enough, they would have had taken the primary safety measures that includes checking the roads and culverts, before crossing them.

“Had that been done, then the incident may have been avoided,” the SP said.