CBI re-enacts crime scene at site of 2015 Bakoria encounter

Source: hindustantimes.com

A team of forensic experts from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday reached the site of encounter between the security forces and the CPI (Maoists) at Bakoria in Palamu to re-enact the crime scene as part of its on-going investigation of this alleged fake encounter.

The CBI had taken up this case in November 2018 after the Jharkhand High Court transferred the investigation to the apex investigating agency after one of the victims’ father approached HC for a CBI investigation.

The CPI (Maoists) and the security forces including CoBRA and district armed police had clashed at Bhalwahi near Bakoria under the Satbarwa police station area of Palamu district in Jharkhand on June 9, 2015. The security forces claimed to have gunned dwon twelve Maoists. However, the family members of those killed had termed the encounter to be fake and approached the Jharkhand High Court for high level probe.

The director of the central forensic science laboratory Dr Nilendu Vikas Vardhan led the investigating team in collecting vital clues from the spot and corroborating statements given by the police officers during the investigation.

The team used a team of home guards jawans to play the roles of those killed in the encounter while using a white police SUV in place of the silver SUV that was used by the Maoists.

The encounter site, less than a kilometre from the national highway 75, is 135 kilometres west of the state capital.

During the recreation of the crime scene at the encounter site, the CBI team also took to the spot the then Satbarwa police.

A team of forensic experts from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday reached the site of encounter between the security forces and the CPI (Maoists) at Bakoria in Palamu to re-enact the crime scene as part of its on-going investigation of this alleged fake encounter.

The CBI had taken up this case in November 2018 after the Jharkhand High Court transferred the investigation to the apex investigating agency after one of the victims’ father approached HC for a CBI investigation.

The CPI (Maoists) and the security forces including CoBRA and district armed police had clashed at Bhalwahi near Bakoria under the Satbarwa police station area of Palamu district in Jharkhand on June 9, 2015. The security forces claimed to have gunned dwon twelve Maoists. However, the family members of those killed had termed the encounter to be fake and approached the Jharkhand High Court for high level probe.

The director of the central forensic science laboratory Dr Nilendu Vikas Vardhan led the investigating team in collecting vital clues from the spot and corroborating statements given by the police officers during the investigation.

The team used a team of home guards jawans to play the roles of those killed in the encounter while using a white police SUV in place of the silver SUV that was used by the Maoists.

The encounter site, less than a kilometre from the national highway 75, is 135 kilometres west of the state capital.

During the recreation of the crime scene at the encounter site, the CBI team also took to the spot the then Satbarwa police station officer-in-charge Md. Rustam, Daltonganj town police station officer-in-charge Harish Pathak and the officer-in-charge of Manika police station Gulam Rabbani Khan to describe in detail what had actually happened during the encounter and the follow up action taken thereafter.

Md Rustam had been involved in the encounter with the Maoists while the two other police officers were the first to reach the spot with reinforcements.

As part of the re-creation, the forensic experts also deployed their men in positions occupied by the security personnel during the actual encounter and took measurements and noted down the distance.

The CBI officers, however, denied sharing any details about the recreation.

The heavy downpour lashed the site when the team was carrying out investigation on the spot bringing the operations to a standstill. It could not be ascertained whether the investigation was completed.

Before reaching the encounter site, the forensic experts in the CBI team also thoroughly examined the seized SUV in which the alleged Maoists were travelling and the arms seized from their possession for more than 4 hours at the Satbarwa PS.