Upset over reports of tribal civilians’ killings, the Chhattisgarh Government on Sunday ordered for a judicial probe and announced compensation for deceased families.
Chief Minister Raman Singh held a high-level meeting at his official residence and announced a probe into the incident by Justice VK Agrawal, who is already inquiring two such civilians killings’ incidents which took place last year in restive Bastar region.
The BJP Government was forced to swing into action after eight tribal civilians including three minors were killed alleged by men of COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action).
Reports said that elite CoBRA battalion personnel sprayed bullets on civilians on intervening night on May 17-18 at village Arasameta under Gangloor police station in Bijapur district and killed at least eight people including three minors.
The para-military troopers claimed that villagers had been killed in encounter with Maoists.
The act by the CoBRA jawans has created widespread anger Sunday in insurgency-riddled Bastar region. Human Rights activists and opposition Congress have termed the killing Rsa brutal act by the police against civilians’.
Raman Singh who held meeting with the chief secretary Sunil Kumar, director general of police (DGP) Ramniwas, principal secretary N Baijendra Kumar, principal secretary (home) NK Aswal and secretary Aman Kumar Singh, announced a compensation of Rs5,00,000 for each of the victim’s family.
The State Government has also condemned killing of a CoBRA jawan in the Bijapur incident. Bijapur is one of the seven districts that form a 40,000 sq km Bastar region which is considered a nerve centre of Maoist militants since late 1980s.
The outlawed CPI-Maoist runs a parallel Government in vast interiors of Bastar region and mostly it uses local innocent tribal civilians as human shield whenever police and para-military troopers target their hideouts.