Peeved over shoddy investigations into cases relating to attacks on security forces by the Naxals, CRPF has requested the Union Home Ministry to hand over at least four cases to the National Investigation Agency for probe.
The cases include IED blast on May 8 this year at Pedda (Bijapur) in which eight CRPF men and two civilians were killed; ambush on CRPF troops on June 11, 2011 at Bheji in Sukma in which three CRPF jawans were killed and three others injured; IED blast on March 27, 2012 at Pushtola (Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra) in which 13 personnel were killed and other 30 were injured; and ambush on paramilitary troops on January 7, 2013 at Amwatikar (latehar) in which 10 CRPF personnel and five civilians were killed an 15 others injured. In the Amwatikar incident, the Naxals planted an IED in the stomach of a dead jawan with an intention to inflict further damage. The CRPF has been continuously pressing with the State Governments to expedite the trial of cases of Maoists’ attack on the security forces.
“It is requested that special efforts may be made to ensure expeditious trial by summoning all witnesses on each day of trial, impressing upon the Government counsel to brief the witnesses properly before their trial and also whatever witnesses are available are examined early, so that the cases can reach their logical conclusion. The CRPF department will be willing to extend whatever help is possible from its side,” Inspector General of CRPF (Operations) Pankaj Kumar Singh said in a letter to the State police last year.
"There have been incidents where the Naxalites have inflicted heavy losses on the security forces. More important than such incidents happening is the requirement of registering cases against Naxalites who were involved in perpetrating these incidents, doing expeditious investigations, bringing guilty to the book and ensuring an early and logical conclusion of these cases by monitoring their trial regularly," Singh had said.
Expressing its anguish over the slow pace of investigation, the CRPF had pointed out five important cases in which the Chhattisgarh Police was urged to take expeditious action.
The most important case in which CRPF sought action includes the Chintagufa, Dantewada case in which an entire company of the 62 Battalion of CRPF was ambushed on April 8, 2010 near Tadmetla leading to the killing of 75 CRPF personnel and one head constable of Chhattisgarh Police. Ten accused have been arrested in the case and two chargesheets have been filed, all the 21 out of 54 prosecution witnesses have turned hostile and the statements of other witnesses are yet to be recorded.
The other case pertains to the ambush on a full company of the CRPF on June 29, 2010 at Maharabeda in Narayanpur in which 500 Naxals had killed 27 personnel of the 39 Battalion of CRPF. As many as 38 persons have been arrested but a chargesheet has been filed against one accused. Out of the 25 prosecution witnesses, only one has been examined.
Other cases include IED blast on a CRPF vehicle on December 30, 2010 in which six CRPF personnel were killed at Barsoor in Dantewada, landmine blast at Ghatam in Dantewada where 10 police personnel and an SPO was killed by a contingent of 100 Maoists and another attack on a paramilitary vehicle at Sukma in Dantewada in which seven paramilitary personnel were killed. The police are yet to examine all the witnesses in the cases leading to delay in trial of these cases.
Director General of CRPF Pranay Sahay in separate communication to the Directors General of Police of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh in November sought a review of the existing arrangements of taking undertrial Naxal prisoners from jail to courts and back. Sahay requested them that the prisoners must be escorted by a competent and strong police escort and the route taken by them must be kept secret.
Sahay's letter came in response to a sensational incident in November at Giridih in Jharkhand wherein Maoists ambushed a jail van in broad daylight and freed six of their senior leaders in a daring attack. Thirty three other prisoners who were in the jail van also escaped in what was a major setback to the concerted anti-Naxal efforts put in by the State police and paramilitary over the last two years.