Punish those involved in insulting CRPF men: Rajnath Singh to Chhattisgarh govt

He added that security forces personnel, whether of the state or central forces, should be accorded appropriate honour

Amid outrage over recovery of uniforms belonging to martyred CRPF jawans in a garbage dump near a Raipur hospital, Centre has asked Chhattisgarh government to investigate the matter and punish those involved in 'nsulting' the troopers.

"I have asked Chhattisgarh CM to fix responsibility in this case and punish those involved in insulting the uniform of the deceased CRPF men," Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.

The Home Minister said he spoke to Chief Minister Raman Singh in this regard after it was brought to his notice that 'the uniforms of the slain troopers were probably thrown away'.

"Spoke to Ch'garh CM @drramansingh regarding the insult of CRPF martyrs's uniform and asked him to institute an inquiry into this incident," he tweeted.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I have asked the CM to fix responsibility of those who were responsible for this incident and that the entire thing should be investigated."

He stressed that security forces personnel, whether of the state or central forces, should be accorded appropriate honour.

The CRPF also has instituted an inquiry into the incident which came to the fore yesterday in state capital Raipur, leaving the Chief Minister red-faced.

Acting Central Reserve Police Force chief R C Tayal said the inquiry would be conducted by the an officer deputed by the Inspector General (Operations) of the force in the Maoist violence affected state and a report would be submitted soon.

"We have ordered an inquiry to find out how it happened. Serious action will be taken against the guilty. We suspect some political workers took these items from the lower staff in the hospital in Raipur.We are looking into it," Tayal, who is back here after camping in Raipur after the December 1 encounter, said.

14 CRPF personnel, including two officers, were killed in the encounter in Sukma district of the state on Monday.

Camouflaged pattern blood-stained uniforms like the one worn by CRPF troops in operations and jungle boots were found lying in the garbage dump near Ambedkar Hospital in Raipur yesterday, sparking an outrage.

This is the same hospital were the autopsy of the slain soldiers was done after their bodies were flown-in on Tuesday from the site of the encounter in south Bastar's Sukma.