CG govt forms judicial panel to probe 2009 Rajnandagon ambush

The Chhattisgarh government has constituted a one-member judicial commission to probe the 2009 Naxal attack in Rajnandagon district in which 29 police personnel, including a superintendent of police, were killed in three separate strikes on a single day. A gazette notification in this regard was issued on January 15 by the state's General Administration Department, a department official told PTI on Sunday night.

The commission, to be chaired by Justice Shambhunath Srivastava (retd judge of the Allahabad High Court),has been formed to probe various significant points "which are of public importance and clear apprehensions pertaining over it despite after 10 years of the incident". Then Rajnandgaon SP Vinod Choubey was among the 29 police personnel who were killed in three separate strikes by naxals in Madanwada and nearby areas on July 12, 2019.

The judicial inquiry was ordered by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in September last year. As per the notification, the enquiry will be focused on 11 points, including the circumstances leading to the incidents near Madanwada, Mahaka Pahari, Karekatta and Korkatti villages under the Manpur police station area.

It will try to find out whether the incidents could have been averted and whether all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and security directives were followed. Other points of the probe include the circumstances leading the Rajnandgaon SP and other security personnel to rush for the operation; whether additional resources and forces were sent as reinforcement, and whether the state police and Central forces had coordinated with each other.

The commission will have to submit its report within six months from the date of the gazette publication. On July 12, 2009, two security personnel were killed in an encounter with Maoists in Madanwada.

Subsequently, Choubey rushed to the spot along with reinforcement. When he was heading to the spot along with his team, Maoists ambushed them, killing him and 24 other police personnel. In another incident on the same day, four other policemen were killed in a naxal attack in a nearby forest.

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