Activists submit complaint over Sarkeguda encounter, want FIR

Human rights activists on Friday submitted a complaint, seeking FIR against former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and police and CRPF officials over the 'fake' encounter at Sarkeguda in 2012in which 17 people were killed.

However, officials at the Basaguda police station in Bijapur district refused to register a First Information Report, activists claimed.

Local villagers, alongwith activists Himanshu Kumar and Soni Sori, approached Basaguda police station, seeking registration of a case against Raman Singh who was then CM, a senior police official and five other police and CRPF officials.

"The Judicial Commission's report has stated that it was a fake encounter and no maoists were present there," Himanshu Kumar told reporters.

"As many as 200 security personnel were involved in the fake encounter, and police are trying to save them. We will sit in front of the police station till FIR is registered," he said.

On the intervening night of June 28-29, 2012, 17 people, including seven minors, were killed in an 'encounter' carried out by a team of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and state police at Sarkeguda village of Bijapur.

The forces claimed they had intercepted a meeting of maoists. Following hue and cry, the then BJP government instituted a judicial inquiry.

The report of the one-member judicial commission of Justice V K Agrawal, tabled in the Assembly on December 2 this year, said there were no maoists present at the meeting, and there was no provocation from villagers to justify the firing.

Bastar police said on Friday that they were waiting for orders from the state government with regard to the commission's findings.

"The police had registered an FIR in connection with Sarkeguda encounter in 2012, and charge sheet was submitted in the court. Legally, we cannot register two cases over the same incident. We are taking legal opinion in this matter from the government," said Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P.

Contacted for comments, Raman Singh claimed that the "matter is being politicized".

The judicial commission has given its report and now it is the government's responsibility to take further action, he told PTI.