It now appears that fudged figures submitted by the police may be one of the reasons why Chhattisgarh is losing its battle against Maoist rebels.

A confidential internal report prepared by the Chhattisgarh Police says various police districts in the state have been over-reporting encounter deaths, while the weapons recovered during surrenders are practically unusable ones.

The report prepared under the guidance of Inspector General (Naxal Operations and Special Investigations Bureau) Girdhari Nayak and submitted to Director General of Police O P Rathore was commissioned to analyse each encounter in 2006, detailing the number of Naxals killed, weapons recovered, where and when the encounters took place and how the police reacted. However, it has ended up raising several questions about police conduct.

However, the report is unlikely to be put forth for government inspection as senior officers are said to be trying to cover up the findings. Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam, when contacted, said he won’t be able to comment as he had not seen the report.

While the police claim to have carried out 325 encounters with the Leftist guerrillas in 2006, killing 250 Naxalites, the report points out that the security apparatus is not able to explain why only 69 bodies could be recovered. Apart from the 325 encounters, the police also says 1,582 Naxalites and Sangham members surrendered during the sm period. But the weapons they have deposited are far from sophisticated. The Chhattisgarh Police, in fact, was able to recover just one AK-47 rifle, three SLRs, one US Carbine, one stengun, one revolver, one mortar, 28 hand grenades and two wireless sets in the entire year.

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