Govt appoints inquiry officer to probe Dantewada attack

New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) Two days after the worst-ever
Maoist attack that left 76 security personnel dead, the Indian
Government Thursday appointed an inquiry officer who will go
into the circumstances leading to the ambush by Naxalites in
Dantewada district of Chattisgarh.
Former Director General of BSF E N Rammohan has been
asked to conduct the inquiry and submit a report within 15
days to establish the circumstances preceding and the sequence
of events leading to the incident of April 6, 2010.
According to an order issued by India's Home Ministry,
69-year-old Rammohan, a 1965-batch IPS officer, will
reconstruct as far as possible the actual events that took
place on that day from 0500 hours to 1200 hours and until the
first rescue party reached the spot.
He will also examine the call detail records of the
mobile telephones used by the deceased and injured personnel
of the CRPF during the encounter and gather evidence from
family members and others that would throw light on the actual
events that took place during the ambush.
He will analyse and establish the decision or command
structure or hierarchy and the specific levels which took
relevant decisions concerning the operation.
The inquiry officer will also examine the quality of the
training imparted to the relevant Companies of CRPF and the
details of standard operating procedures.
He will examine the response of the state police and the
CRPF both during the ambush and the post-ambush relief and
rescue operations besides suggesting measures to mitigate the
lapses, if any, so that such incidents do not recur.
The announcement of the appointment of the inquiry
officer comes soon after India's Home Minister P Chidambaram
acknowledged that "something went wrong" during the Maoist
attack in central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
"We have taken a decision to institute an inquiry into
what went wrong," Chidambaram told reporters, replying to a
volley of questions on Tuesday's attack in the jungles of
Dantewada district. PTI SKL
MRD