Suddenly, Mondol saw two men firing from their automatic weapons at the jawans. The ASI took cover behind the wall of a house and fired a couple of rounds from his service revolver. But realising he could not match the Maoists’ AK-47s, he hunkered down, frantically trying to call his senior officers from his mobile phone.

“I had come from the police station a little while ago to take my evening tea. There was no tension in the air. But all of a sudden I saw a group of men emerging from nowhere and firing at the jawans. I feel sad I could not do much and we lost four of our jawans,” says Mondol, who is from Purulia.

Following yesterday’s incident in which the Maoists ambushed and killed four EFR jawans, Mondol’s family has been urging him to give up the job of a policeman. “Today, I was supposed to go home in the morning but my leave has been cancelled. My son and daughter are crying and telling me to quit the job. I don’t know what I will do,” says Mondol, whose son Shubajit is a Class V student and daughter Shilpa is in nursery.

The ASI says he could never imagine this kind of incident taking place in Gidhni. “It’s not that we are not alert. Just about a month ago, I seized one car. But this area is more or less peaceful. Who knew they would strike in this fashion,” says Mondol.

Another man who survived the attack was Durbadal Choudhury, owner of a cycle shop adjacent to the spot where the shooting took place. Choudhury, who stays with his parents, three brothers and his wife, was shot in the leg and is currently being treated at the Jhargram sub-divisional hospital.