The CRPF has suspended 17 of its personnel for “inaction and lack of satisfactory counter-action” during a Maoist attack six months ago at Tahakwada in Sukma district in which 11 personnel of the paramilitary force and four men of the Chhattisgarh Police were killed.

This is the first instance when the CRPF had suspended its personnel deployed on the anti-Naxal front in Chhattisgarh for “dereliction of duty and cowardice”, said senior officials.

The action followed a preliminary enquiry ordered by CRPF IG Chhattisgarh HS Siddhu. “Following a preliminary enquiry these personnel were placed under suspension and departmental inquiry has been initiated for inaction and lack of satisfactory response during the Naxal attack,” Siddhu told The Sunday Express.

All the suspended personnel — 14 constables and head constables, two assistant sub-inspectors and an inspector— belonged to the 80th Battalion.

The biggest Maoist ambush on security forces in three years, the attack took place on March 11 morning, weeks before the Lok Sabha elections in Bastar. Along with the 15 CRPF and police personnel, a villager was also killed in the attack.

The state police have also suspended a head constable, an alleged “Maoist mole” in the force who informed the rebels about the police movement during the ambush. Bastar IG SRP Kalluri said, “A court of inquiry was conducted. On the basis of account of the injured CRPF personnel and eyewitnesses and other evidence available, CRPF has suspended them. We have also suspended a head constable Mahadev Nag. He informed one Manjhi Ram Kashyap that forces had left the thana. Kashyap later informed the Maoists about the force movement,” Kalluri added. Kashyap was arrested a fortnight ago.

Several of the CRPF’s suspended personnel have been sent on leave and sources indicated they might be dismissed after the departmental inquiry that is likely to submit its report in three months.

While Bastar has seen killings of several security personnel in Maoist ambushes, the Tahakwada incident was different. A team of 45 CRPF and police personnel had left Tongpal police station for a patrol on national highway around 9.30 am. They had barely walked 3-4 km when they were ambushed in a plain area, where there were no hills or forests as in other ambushes. The Maoists fired from behind the small hedges in a field, just 40-45 metre from the road and managed to kill 15 personnel of the front row in the first burst of fire itself.

It has now emerged that the suspended personnel were behind this first section and instead of coming to their help, they stayed behind and later deserted their colleagues.

The Maoists also easily managed to snatch the rifles of the slain personnel. The weapons and ammunition looted included six AK-47s, some of which were fitted with Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, 18 magazines of the same rifle, one Light Machine Gun with 10 magazines, nine INSAS rifles with 30 magazines, two SLRs with six magazines and two wireless sets.

While Chhattisgarh police and CRPF DGP Dileep Trivedi had claimed after the ambush that the forces fought a brave battle and “the firing took place for over three hours”, a report later prepared by the Tongpal thana noted that the encounter lasted for just around 30 minutes. In fact, the team of 45 personnel fired just 427 rounds in retaliation.

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