Is CRPF responsible for killing of 6 of its personnel in Narayanpur?

            Jagdalpur, August 31, 2008: Primary investigations have indicated that the central para military force was indirectly responsible for the killing of its six personnel on Friday last on a highway between Kondagaon and Narayanpur, near the Abujhmad area.

            “How come a road opening party could not trace such a powerful land mine, which ultimately took the life of an Inspector and five jawans at Chheribeda, about 150 km from here,” police sources said here today questioning the attitude of the forces in anti-naxal operation.

            Having worked in sensitive areas, the CRPF should have been extra cautious and when they had been escorting their own Commandant they need to be double sure that there was no obstacle for their officer, which unfortunately had not happened, they said.

            The Commandant escaped the attack by a few second but he should note how seriously his man are working in that area as there was a convoy of three vehicles proceeding towards Manjemeta from Kondagaon to inaugurate a school building under a civilian programme.

            The road opening party was in the front, who had been giving a green signal to the Commandant’s vehicle to proceed and behind him was an escort vehicle with an Inspector, four jawans and a driver, when the Maoists triggered a powerful blast, killing all the occupants of the tail vehicle, the police said.

            The blast was so powerful that the front portion of the vehicle of the Inspector was totally blown off killing five on the spot where as one died in the hospital, they said adding the information had created a shock wave among the state police as they questioned whether actually any road opening party had gone ahead of the vehicle of the commandant.

            Even the Director General of Police Vishwa Ranjan also had expressed shock over the incident and had enquired whether any road opening party had actually searched thoroughly before the Commandant of the CRPF travelled to that area.

            In that incident, CRPF officials said, Inspector R S Kang of Punjab was killed along with Narpat Singh Boga from Chhattisgarh, K Tamanna of Andhra Pradesh and Ramesh Chandra Patra, Santhal Kumar Dhal and Driver B B Mahant, all from Orissa.