| Raipur |
Updated: August 14, 2020 8:08:26 am
Nearly five months after 17 Chhattisgarh Police personnel were killed in an ambush by Maoists in Sukma, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has accused the Centre of “lack of coordination” during the incident and claimed that CRPF personnel were present “500 m from the spot” but did not engage because “they didn't receive orders”.
Baghel told The Indian Express that he had raised the issue with the central government and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Both teams of CRPF and DRG (District Reserve Guard) had gone on the operation together. The CRPF personnel were 500m away from the encounter spot. They didn't receive orders to march and they stayed put, without engaging. Eventually, our 17 men died in the incident. If they had got the (CRPF) support… the Naxal casualty would have been higher.”
Read| In a first, Chhattisgarh police make public list of most-wanted Maoists
According to police, at least five Maoists, from the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), were killed in the incident. “I have raised this issue in front of the government, even the Home Minister, that lack of…