Thaindian News

Raipur, June 1 (IANS) More than a week after the central government asked Chhattisgarh to take action against two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers for their “command failure” in connection with the Maoist slaughter of 76 securitymen in Dantewada, a reluctant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has sought the opinion of the state police chief on the matter.
The state government which had initially dumped the suggestion, has now sought the opinion of Vishwa Ranjan, the director general of police (DGP), on whether it should act against the two officers — Bastar Inspector General (IG) T.J. Longkumer and Dantewada Superintendent of Police (SP) Amresh Mishra, official sources said Tuesday.

The central government’s move followed a recommendation by the E.N. Rammohan Committee report, which probed the massacre.

According to official sources, the state government is highly reluctant to take action against the IPS duo as it could result in further lowering of the morale of the police force in the red zone as they are already under relentless attacks by the guerrillas.

“There is a general feeling in the police department in Chhattisgarh that the two IPS officers had nothing much to do with the April 6 killings and only a certain CRPF officer’s ‘command failure’ is to be blamed for the slaughter,” a source at the police headquarters told IANS.

The union home ministry had recommended action against the IPS officers after it shunted out Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DIG in Dantewada Nalin Prabhat, commandant of the 62nd battalion V.K. Bisht, and inspector Sanjeev Bagree, based on the report of a one-man inquiry committee of E.N. Rammohan, which submitted its report to the central government in the last week of April.

Officials say that Rammohan, former Border Security Force (BSF) director general, in his report highlighted “command failure” that led to the killing of 76 security personnel April 6 in the Chintalnar forest, some 480 km south of capital Raipur.

Sources say the report had also accused Dantewada SP Mishra, a 2005 batch IPS officer, of failing to pass on specific intelligence inputs provided to him about the rebels gathering in the Chintalnar forest ahead of April 6.