CBI begins probe into killing of 12 persons at Bakoria, Palamu, in June 2015

Shashank  Shekhar

Ranchi ( Jharkhand) :  After lodging an FIR on the direction of  Jharkhand High court on November 19, 2018, the CBI sleuths led by DSP, CBI headquarters, Delhi, K K Singh along with several cops have started investigation and collecting evidences in Bakoria (Palamu) encounter case which took place on June 8, 2015, in which police claimed to have shot down 12 maoists including 5 minors while the kin of deceased had described the encounter as ‘fake’ in Jharkhand High court.

Police, in its FIR, claimed that maoists travelling in a vehicle  had fired on teams of cops who were on a search mission and in retaliation 12 naxalites were killed from whom security forces even recovered an SUV, 8 automatic  rifles, and 250 rounds. This FIR was challenged by Jawahar Yadav, whose elder brother was killed in the encounter. In his FIR lodged on filed on June 9, 2015, with Sadar police station, Daltanganj (Palamu), Jawahar Yadav had claimed innocent persons were picked by police and shot dead.

The case came under scanner when later Palamu DIG Hemant Toppo, in his  confidential report sent to headquarters, stated that fake encounter took place giving wrong locations and several police officers who claimed big rewards for killing Naxalites were not even physically present at the shown encounter site.

Even Human Rights Commission visited Palamu in February 2017 and raised doubts over encounter story and later the High Court Judge R Mukhopadhya while hearing the case in his court and seeing all documents and photos branded the encounter as ‘highly controversial’ stating that photographs produced by police create doubt in the case as ‘bodies were kept in one line’ as if bodies were brought from other places and arranged properly. The Jharkhand High Court ordered  for CBI probe into the matter on October 22, 2018.

The CBI sleuths have asked  Jharkhand police to furnish all records relating to this case.