Mystery shrouds over DIG killing in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: Mystery shrouded over the killing of South Western Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Jaswinder Singh who was gunned down yesterday at Badakutinga in naxalite infested Rayagada district.

The DIG who was on his way from Sunabeda to Padampur to address a press conference on the arrest and surrender of naxalites,was killed when a bullet hit his head.He was immediately taken to the Rayagada hospital where the doctors declared him ''brought dead''.

Initially the local police attributed the incident as the handiwork of the suspected naxalites and jumped into a conclusion that it was a planned attack on the DIG.

Even the State Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra and Director General of Police Amarananda Pattnaik did not rule out the possible involvement of the leftwing ultras in the killing of Mr Singh.

But in the event of no naxalite outfits claiming to be responsible for the killing of Mr Singh the police have started interrogating the two security personnel who accompanied the DIG and the driver as none of them were injured in the shoot out.

A theory is now gaining momentum that it was an accidental firing by the security personnel which led to the instant death of the DIG. But senior police officials are tightlipped to comment on the outcome of the detail interrogation of the two security personnel in Rayagada.

Shocked at the killing of Mr Singh, the first such incident in Orissa where a senior IPS officer was shot dead, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered for a high level police inquiry by the Director General of Police into the incident. The DGP will visit Rayagada and the place where Mr Singh was shot dead for an on the spot investigation today. Sources said the inquiry by the DGP would reveal whether it was a planned attack by the naxalites or an accidental firing that claimed the life of Mr Singh.

Senior police officials involved in anti-naxalite operation in the state maintained that the way Mr Singh was killed could not be ascribed to the handiwork of the naxalites who normally resorted to a more aggressive attack like laying of landmines in the area and spraying of bullets from all side to the police convoy.

The naxalites also normally come in group and heavily armed while carrying out such operation but in the case of Mr Singh no evidence had so far been revealed the presence of armed naxalites at the spot.

It was rather a single bullet that killed the DIG instead of an armed attack on the vehicle and Mr Singh. Police said the incident occurred near Gumma Ghat when the DIG vehicle was intercepted by a group of people who were collecting donation for Kali puja from the passersby forcibly.

The DIG got down from his vehicle, confronted the people and cleared the traffic. When he went to his vehicle, sources said the mob started pelting stones at the DIG which prompted the two PSOs to open fire to disperse the crowd.

At this a shot was fired which hit Mr Singh on the back of his head leading to instant death on the spot.

UNI

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