The eight police officers indicted by the Central Bureau of Investigation for setting houses ablaze during 2011 Sukma raids will be suspended, the Chhattisgarh government said on Wednesday. An official statement issued by the Raman Singh government said, "The DGP has issued directives for taking action of suspension and line attach as per the rules against the then eight special police officers of Dantewada and Sukma districts who have been chargesheeted by the CBI in connection with the Tadmetla incident."
The government also ordered an investigation into the October 24 protests carried out by police personnel, during which they burnt effigies of social activists and political leaders in Bastar. The protestors said that while they were fighting Maoists “under the harshest circumstances”, they continued to face allegations on a daily basis from “Naxal sympathisers”.
Between March 11 and March 16, 2011, the police had carried out an anti-Naxalite operation in the forests of Sukma district (then part of Dantewada district) in the Bastar region in southern Chhattisgarh. During the course of the operation, the police torched more than 200 homes and granaries in the three Adivasi villages of Morpalli, Tadmetla and Teemapuram.
The Supreme Court had directed the CBI to investigate the arson and violence following social activist Swami Agnivesh's petition after he was attacked by a mob while travelling to the villages with relief supplies. The mob reportedly included special police officers and Salwa Judum members. Residents of the villages had also alleged that special police officers raped three women during the violence.
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