Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul ordered a CB-CID inquiry into the death of STF constable Anant Kumar Yadav who was shot dead allegedly by a poacher while conducting an operation against a poaching gang in Uttarkashi last week.
Sources said that several questions remaining unanswered have prodded the Governor to order the probe. However, CB-CID inquiry ordered by the Governor on Wednesday has left the STF brass red-faced.
The story that was circulated was that the STF policeman Yadav was killed when a poacher fired shots at him in Uttarkashi on the night of April 6. The incident happened when the STF team was engaged in an operation at Dhantari area around 40 km away from Uttarkashi. Yadav who was shot by the poacher, was taken to Uttarkashi district hospital where he was declared brought dead by the doctors.
Several teams from Tehri, Uttarkashi and STF were formed to conduct combing operation to nab the wildlife poachers. Three days after the gruesome incident, police arrested a poacher Sundar Singh Bisht, resident of Dunda, Uttarkashi from Chaurangikhal in Uttarkashi on April 9. However, Bisht denied firing shot on STF constable Yadav.
Besides, the Government-owned firearm (9mm pistol) which the accused had allegedly snatched from the slain STF member Yadav and fired shots from is yet to be recovered.
Mystery still hangs over how the STF constable died. Several theories, benumbing in number, are in the air, one being that a member of the raiding team had inadvertently shot at Yadav while the target was the poachers.
STF sources claimed that while the STF constable Yadav, in plain clothes, had caught hold of a poacher another poacher had fired shots at him and escaped.
There is another view according to which the constable died as bullets from his own pistol mistakenly blew off, hitting him instead of the poachers. Some spent-up bullets were recovered from the spot.
Observers wonder over how the poachers could have snatched the firearm, unzipping it from the holster of the constable.
“The Governor has taken the right step by ordering CB-CID inquiry as it is imperative to clear the air regarding the ghastly killing of the constable on duty allegedly by hardened poachers,” said one of the observers.
Another observer said things looked murky. “The STF team consisting of three constables, the role of the other two constables during the firing is shrouded in mystery. Seemingly, they did not act to retaliate the killing of their colleagues. This reeks of mystery,” the observer said.