Abandoning of injured policeman: CoI ordered by IAF

A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered by the IAF into the conduct of its personnel who are accused of abandoning an injured policeman in Chhattisgarh during an anti-Naxal operation, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha today.
In a written reply to the House, he said, "A CoI is in progress to inquire into the incident."
The Defence Minister told the House that Standard Operation Procedures have been formulated for operations of IAF in support of police and Central paramilitary in logistics support for anti-Naxal operations.
"All missions are planned and executed in close coordination with Inspector Generals, Central Armed Police Forces of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand," Antony said, denying that Indian Army has any role in anti-Naxal operations.

In reply to a separate question on Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) for the IAF, he said the contract was signed in May last year at a total cost of Rs 2895.63 crore for procurement of 75 aircraft and associated equipments.
"The BTA bids were evaluated on basis of the total cost of acquisition for determining the L1 vendor, as stipulated in the RFP and the contract was signed for the Direct Acquisition cost elements as specified in the RFP," Antony said.