‘Weak intel network led to massacre’
The series of reverses suffered by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in its ongoing battle against Maoists in Chhattisgarh have been attributed to weak intelligence network of the security personnel in the Naxal-infested areas, experts said.
In fact, there virtually does not exist any intelligence network of the police in the Maoist-hit region of Bastar, which witnessed at least three major Maoist strikes in last three months leading to killing of at least 125 security personnel, including 109 CRPF jawans
In all these incidents, the lives of the jawans could have been saved had the police had a semblance of intelligence net work in these areas, a senior CRPF intelligence officer told this newspaper, requesting anonymity. “Our jawans were surrounded by around 250 ultras at Jharighat, a thickly forested area, in a short notice on Tuesday. But the intelligence set up by both the state police and the Central paramilitary forces had failed to tip off their presence to the road opening party, comprising CRPF personnel, who were caught off guard when ambushed by the ultra. This led to killing of 27 CRPF troopers,” he said.
“How the police did not have information about gathering of such a large number of people at one place, that to in a short notice,” he questioned, saying, it exposes the horrible state of intelligence net work of the security personnel in the Maoist-affected areas of Chhattisgarh.
Echoing similar view, sources in the Central intelligence agencies in New Delhi said, “Neither the state police nor the Central security forces deployed for anti-Naxal operations in the state act on the credible inputs provided by the Central agencies. Most of the time, state police don’t share inputs provided by the Central agencies with the Central forces.”
For instance, state police was already alerted about the possible Naxal attack in Dantewada in the month of March, but it was not shared with the Central forces which finally resulted into the killings of 75 CRPF personnel in Chintalnar on April 6, sources said.
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CoI submits report on Dantewada
AGE CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
June 30: A court of inquiry (CoI), set up by the CRPF, to probe the lapses and fix responsibility for the April 6 Dantewada attack, submitted its report to the force headquarters here on Wednesday. The CoI was setup to probe “specific acts of omission and commission” by an inspecter general and three other officers in connection with the worst Maoist attack on security forces so far.
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