The Hindu : Karnataka News : Probe ordered into Chikmagalur encounter

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 08, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Probe ordered into Chikmagalur encounter

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, FEB. 7. The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, today ordered a comprehensive probe into the killing of two naxalites in an encounter with the police near Menasinahadya in Koppal taluk of Chikmagalur district on Sunday.

Mr. Dharam Singh told presspersons after a high-level meeting with senior officials that the Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner, Chiranjeev Singh, will hold an inquiry.

The Chikmagalur police, with adequate support from the Karnataka State Reserve Police, have intensified combing operations in the forests adjoining Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada and Shimoga districts to track down the remaining naxalites who escaped during the encounter.

The Chief Minister has been watching the developments pertaining to the naxalites and it was he who directed the Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), Subash Bharani, to rush to Chikmagalur on Sunday. Only four days ago, the Chief Minister had said that the Special Task Force (STF), which was deployed to track down the forest brigand Veerappan, will be deployed in the Western Ghats to flush out the naxalites.

Mr. Dharam Singh said he was pained by the incident. "The Government is keen on holding talks with the naxalites but they have not come forward. We want to ascertain their demands first hand and then find ways of solving them. But they have not responded so far," he said.

The Government has ordered another post-mortem of the bodies of the two naxalites. This was one of the important demands of some representatives of the Citizens Initiative for Peace (CIFP) who called on the Chief Minister and requested him to stop the combing operations.

The Government has agreed to hand over the bodies of the deceased naxalites to the CIFP in case the relatives do not turn up to claim the bodies.

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