Naxal threat hampers CBI probe into Dantewada violence

As the Centre reaches out to naxals in insurgency-hit Chhattisgarh, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday informed the Supreme Court that a team of its officers walked a thin line between life and death as they investigate a series of alleged naxal attacks on villages in Dantewada district of the State.

The odds faced by the team working in the “extremely hostile area” prompted the Supreme Court to pull up the Chhattisgarh government for not providing adequate protection to conduct the investigation.

“Give them protection. You say here you will give them protection and they [CBI officers] will be killed. We will hold you to your word,” the Social Justice Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and U.U. Lalit told the Chhattisgarh government.

The court’s reaction came after Additional Solicitor-General P.S. Patwalia said further investigation was required on the five FIRs filed by them on the violence, and they would need six more months of field investigation.

Mr. Patwalia detailed the “extremely hostile” attitude the CBI men face and how their movements were limited.

“We cannot just walk into any area. Some 200 to 300 people go into these areas with us,” Mr. Patwalia read out from a report filed with the court.

He said the CBI had tried to circumvent the problem by opening a camp between September 14 and September 20 so that people could come and give evidence. “Nobody turned up,” Mr. Patwalia said.

“A second camp was organised during the first week of November. But we got a counter-intelligence tip-off from Maharashtra that the CBI team may be ambushed by naxals. So we could not go,” Mr. Patwalia submitted.

The CBI’s presence in the area dates back to a July 2011 Supreme Court judgment restraining the Chhattisgarh government and the Centre from appointing tribal people as special police officers and arming them to counter Maoists. The apex court had termed it “unconstitutional”.

The court had also taken cognisance of several instances of violence in the three villages of Morpalli, Tadmetla and Timmapuram of Dantewada, and directed the CBI to take over the investigation. The agency was asked to investigate the attack on social activist Swami Agnivesh and his companions while on a visit to Dantewada in March 2011.