Report on Silger firing incident in which three people were killed submitted: Chhattisgarh CM

BIJAPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday said his government had received the inquiry report into last year's Silger incident in Sukma district in which three persons were killed in an alleged crossfire between security forces and Naxals.

The (probe) report into the Silger incident has been submitted to the state government and it is being studied, following which further decision will be taken, the CM told reporters here.

The magisterial inquiry into the incident was set up by the Sukma collector.

"After the Silger incident, I spoke to social organizations, public representatives of the area and had sanctioned around Rs 600 crore for various development works. Roads and school buildings were constructed, tube wells were dug, anganwadi centre and public distribution shops (PDS) were opened in the area," he said.

"Now, Silger has road connectivity and access to bus service. This is a big achievement of the government that Silgar has access to public transport facility as it was hard to reach there earlier," the CM added.

On May 17 last year, three persons died and five sustained injuries in alleged police firing when a huge group of villagers were protesting against the establishment of a new camp near Silger village along the border of Sukma and Bijapur.

Police had then claimed Naxals hiding among the protestors opened fire at the camp, prompting security forces to launch retaliatory action.

Police had also identified the three deceased as members of frontal outfits of the banned CPI (Maoist).

However, villagers had claimed the police resorted to unilateral firing and that the persons killed were not Naxals, after which Sukma Collector Vineet Nandanwar on May 24 ordered a magisterial probe headed by a deputy collector into the incident.