Ten months on, identity of attackers remains a mystery
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday announced that the NIA will probe the latest Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh. But as things stand, the agency has failed to crack the Darbha Ghati attack near about the same place in Sukma wherein the ultras had wiped out virtually the entire leadership of the Congress in the State.
On May 25, 2013, the Naxals had killed or fatally injured 36 Congress leaders, including former State Minister Mahendra Karma, Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son, besides party stalwart VC Shukla, in an audacious attack in Darbha Valley in Sukma.
In Tuesday’s attack, 11 CRPF personnel, four State policemen and a civilian were killed and two CRPF personnel sustained injuries.Even after conducting ten months into the Darbha Ghati massacre, the NIA has failed to unravel the identity of the perpetrators behind the attack.
The agency is learnt to have completed the investigations but delayed filing a charge sheet ostensibly due to pressure from the Centre. The probe reportedly has pointed out role of Congress insiders in the attack. The Government reportedly stalled the probe last year due to negative fallout during Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. The charge sheet in the case may not see the light of the day in the near future as the parliamentary elections will begin on April 7.
As part of its investigation, the agency gathered the call detail records of the members of the Congress convoy. The agency also questioned a number of party leaders in connection with the probe. The statements of those questioned and the technical evidence gathered point to a suspected role of Congress leaders, sources said.
Shinde, meanwhile, vowed to take “revenge” for Tuesday’s Naxal ambush. “We will definitely take revenge,” he told reporters in Chhattisgarh. The Home Minister is on a day-long visit to Chhattisgarh to review the situation arising out of the latest Naxal attack.
Preliminary reports from the ambush site revealed that listening to music using head phones attached to his mobile phone proved fatal for a local villager who failed to hear the sound of automatic weapons and was caught in the cross-fire between the security forces and the ultras.
When the Naxals ambushed the joint team of CRPF and Chhattisgarh police in Sukma district, Vikram Nishad was heading towards the spot on a motorbike with head phones plugged into his ears and was killed in the firing.