Rajnish Rai, a top CRPF official has raised serious doubts over an encounter carried out by security forces in Assam’s Chirang district on March 30. Rai, who is currently serving as the Inspector General of Police, CRPF in the North East zone has alleged that the encounter in Simlaguri village, that led to the death of two suspected militants of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) was staged. Rai has sent a report to the CRPF headquarters making serious allegations on the joint operation carried out by the Army, Assam Police, CRPF and the Sashastra Seema Bal, according to Indian Express. The officer also claimed that he had witnesses in his safe custody who have identified that the bodies as those of the two men who were picked up.
Here is what the officer has said in its report to allege that the encounter was fake:
1) Rai has cited GPS records saying that the CRPF unit of the CoBRA visited the encounter spot in Simlaguri a few hours before the encounter. “It leads to the suspicion that the CoBRA (CCCC) team was trying to identify a suitable location where the alleged encounter with the NDFB(S) cadres could be stage managed,” Rai said his report.
2) The two men -identified as Lucas Narzary alias N Langfa and David Islary alias Dayud- were picked up from a house in D-Kalling village.
3) An 11-year-old boy was present in the house from where the suspected NDFB(S) men were picked up. This boy was taken away by a woman who lived in the adjacent house even as the operation was on, the report says.
4) The report also suggests that a team (of Assam police and Army) picked up the suspected NDFB(S) cadres and then met another team at Ouguri. Later the duo were killed in cold blood.
5) The weapons were planted on their bodies, he says.
Given the involvement of multiple security forces in the incident, Rai has demanded an independent investigation into the case.
In his report, Rai observed, “Had this unlawful act been committed by a group of a few deviant officers, I would not have been so concerned. However, since multiple security agencies were involved in this incident, it indicates a deeper institutional malady in the functioning of the country’s most prestigious security forces. It represents a dangerous deterioration and degradation of institutional processes.”
