Congress probe team denied permission to visit ground zero

Due to fresh police-naxal encounter in Mainpur

Team was stopped in Gariyaband

Raipur, July 21, 2011

In wake of Maoist attack on PCC president Nandkumar Patel’s convoy, a probe team of Congress headed towards ground zero on Thursday morning, but was denied permission to go beyond Gariyaband because fresh police-naxal encounter started in Mainpur. The probe team was stopped in Gariyaband from where it returned to Raipur after sometime.

Notably, shocked by the July 20 attack on Congress cavalcade, the Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi had instantly talked to Patel over phone. Thereafter, she directed Chhattisgarh Congress general secretary incharge BK Hariprasada to go to the incidental spot along with the senior leaders to prepare prima facie report.

Hariprasada reached Raipur on Thursday morning. He first held brief talks with Patel and other senior leaders in New Circuit House and then straightaway left for ground zero. The probe team he led was comprised of Patel, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Dr Charandas Mahant, leader of Congress legislators’ party (CLP) Ravindra Choubey, legislators Mohammad Akbar and Kuldeep Juneja and Satyanarayan Sharma.

After returning from Gariyaband, Hariprasada reportedly asked Patel to form a probe committee to prepare a comprehensive report on the incident after inspecting the ground zero. He, thereafter, left for New Delhi on Thursday evening.

According to information, on the basis of prima facie report of state Congress general secretary incharge BK Hariprasada regarding naxal attack on PCC president Nandkumar Patel’s convoy, party president Sonia Gandhi is likely to talk to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram regarding rising naxal violence in Chhattisgarh and its adjoining states. Sources informed that Gandhi could also ask Chidambaram to convene meeting of chief ministers of naxal-hit states again and frame effective strategies to check Maoist menace.

The Congress immediately gave compensation amount to those affected by July 20 naxal attack. The party gave Rs one lakh each to the families of two deceased party workers, Rs 50000 each to the two injured government employees and Rs 25000 each to the injured party workers.