In a candid admission days after the biggest CRPF encounter in Chhattisgarh left 19 persons dead, security officials on Tuesday admitted to the possibility of some extra “collateral damage’”. Among those killed is a 17-year-old girl and some boys who may be under 18 years of age who were used as “human shields” by Maoists, security officials said. As of now, the CRPF and state police have identified only seven deceased as “Maoists” who have a criminal records and various cases pending against them while the profile of others is still being examined by the security agencies. Government officials are not ruling out the possibility of the state government offering compensation to the families of those killed in the encounter who are subsequently proved to be innocent villagers.
At a time when the Union tribal affairs ministry has termed the CRPF offensive “completely unacceptable” and the Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh has demanded a probe, top security officials said the state government may look at the option of handing over the investigation into the case to an independent agency in due course. “No decision has been taken yet. But the effort is to sort out the issue in the best possible manner,” a top official said.