Raipur: The Chhattisgarh government is set to initiate action against security personnel and other officials allegedly responsible for the death of 17 villagers in a fake encounter at Sarkeguda in Bijapur district of the Bastar region in 2012.
The one-member Justice V.K. Agrawal Commission set up to investigate the encounter found no evidence to support the police version that the 17 persons were Maoists and that the team of CRPF and other armed personnel had killed them in retaliatory firing.
The commission report was tabled in the Chhattisgarh assembly on the last day of the winter session earlier this month, and then sent to the general administration department for due process. It has now been forwarded to the home department, and the minister in charge, Tamradhwaj Sahu, told ThePrint that it will act on the report soon.
“I have been busy with the urban local body elections, so I haven’t been able to see it. We will soon examine the report with the help of the legal department, and soon take action against those responsible for the deaths of 17 tribals, who were having a peaceful assembly,” said Sahu.
Sahu added that the government is serious about the matter, and will deliver justice to the bereaved families.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in a conversation with ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta earlier this month, had said the government would fix responsibility for the encounter through an expert committee.
Also read: Ramanna — dreaded Naxal & ‘master strategist’ who planned killing of over 150 security men
What the commission found
The Agrawal Commission had submitted its report over a month and a half ago. It debunked the police version that the tribals killed in Sarkeguda on the night of 28 June 2012 were Maoists, and that it was a case of retaliatory firing. Six of those killed were minors.
The report stated that deputy inspector general S. Elango and deputy commander Manish Bola, who led the attack on the villagers, did not fire a single bullet, which they would’ve if the team had come under attack from Maoists.
The report also found that the tribals were killed at close range, and expressed suspicion that bullet injuries to the police personnel could be a result of “friendly fire”. It also said one of the villagers was killed on the morning after the encounter.
The commission also alleged a cover-up, saying there was a “clear manipulation of the investigation”.
Also read: Chhattisgarh CM Baghel’s advice to Nirmala Sitharaman — put money in common person’s pocket
Ghastly act and no question of mercy to the policemen! Policemen is for protection of people1 But they are here killer in disguise of police !!