Picture of dead Maoists: CRPF,Bengal order probes

The CRPF as well as the West Bengal Police authorities have initiated inquiries into why bodies of Maoists killed in the encounter at Ranja forest in Salboni on Wednesday....

The CRPF as well as the West Bengal Police authorities have initiated inquiries into why bodies of Maoists killed in the encounter at Ranja forest in Salboni on Wednesday,were carried in such a cruel manner,hands and legs tied to bamboo poles. On Thursday,the Union Home Ministry had taken a strong exception to the pictures appearing in newspapers,showing dead Maoists being carried like animals.

According to the preliminary inquiry,the CRPF men were not involved in carrying those bodies. The West Bengal police authorities,meanwhile,in an initial report to the government has said that the bodies had to be carried that way as the encounter had taken place inside the forest,about 3 km off metal roads. There was no other option left for the policemen. It was a combat zone, the West Bengal police defended.

We will hold a probe into the matter. I am open to any kind of inquiry. If it is proved that the CRPF jawans were carrying the bodies in that manner,I will take stringent action against those responsible. Under any circumstances bodies should not be carried in that manner. Whatever harm the Maoists might have done to the society,the fight ends with their death, said Vijay Raman,Special DG,CRPF.

Even though I am open to inquiry,it seems from the photographs that the jawans carrying the bodies did not belong to the CRPF, he said.

West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh said,That was a combat zone. In a combat zone everything may not be done according to norms. However,I have not been communicated anything on the Ministry of Home Affairs objections on this issue. Combat zone experience and thinking in an office room may not always match. Probably,even a policeman killed in the encounter would have faced a similar treatment, Singh said.

Meanwhile,state Home Secretary Samar Ghosh said that thought the MHA did not issue any instruction on this issue,a suo motu investigation was ordered and a report sought. We have asked for reports from the police as to under what circumstances this happened, he said.