Quite disappointing
Hand over 17 cases linked to Maoists to NIA: Centre to Chhattisgarh
The Centre has directed the Chhattisgarh Police to hand over the investigation of 17 cases linked to Left Wing Extremism to the NIA. The cases comprise killings of security personnel, besides those of civilians.
In January, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had chaired a review meeting on Left Wing Extremism with stakeholders in Raipur where he had given a call to end the Left Wing Extremism in the next three years. A source said that the NIA last year took action against the Popular Front of India (PFI) for its alleged involvement in terror activities.
“For the past many years, several anti-Maoist operations of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) were going on in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and some of the remote regions of Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. But the Centre wanted to widen the net of investigation and after the state government changed, it asked for transfer of the 17 cases to the NIA,” the source said.
These 17 Maoist-related cases are from Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur of the Bastar region and two bordering districts — Mohala Manpur and Gariaband. All the cases were registered in 2023 and 2024.
Of the 17 cases, eight are of murder, including two BJP workers — Birjhu Taram and Ratan Dubey. Three cases involve murder of five civilians, killed by the Maoists on suspicion of them to be police informers. Among them was 27-year-old former Maoist Kishan Kursam alias Chotu, who was killed in December last year, months after he surrendered.
Three cases involve killing of security personnel, including that of an ITBP jawan killed in an IED blast in Gariaband on November 17, and three CoBRA jawans killed in Tekulagudem in January this year.
Last month, the BJP-ruled state government constituted a State Investigation Agency (SIA) for tackling Naxalism and will assist the NIA in some of these cases. “The SIA will act as the nodal agency of the state for coordination with the NIA. For this, a total of 74 new posts, including one of Superintendent of Police, have been created,” an official said.
According to an official, only seven cases were transferred by the Chhattisgarh Police to the NIA since 2019.
Jayprakash S Naidu – 2024-04-14 04:09