Chhattisgarh: In the village of Ambush, locals are beaten by the police; IG to look into

Written by Gargi Verma | Tekalagudam (Chhattisgarh) | On April 7, 2021 4:44:51 pm, Mangaloo Barse, 20, lay on the cot in the evening of his hut with bruised lips; He pulled the lower lip down, slowly, to uncover the four missing teeth. In Teklagudam village, the center of shelling between Maoists and security forces on Saturday, Burse was one of the few who stayed back late, and was allegedly beaten up by police personnel, in an allegation that the police chief said He will look into it.

“When we saw the police personnel, we locked ourselves in our houses. Those who were not beaten. After a few hours, we heard the noise of heavy firing and we fled, ”said Bhima Korsa, a 29-year-old resident of Teklagudam. Bastar IG p. Sundararaj said he would look into the allegations. “We have no idea of ​​targeting the villagers, Our army was engaged in fighting the Maoists. I will look into the allegations. On Saturday, 150 or so villagers of Teklagudam fled into the forest, and then in Powarti, on the other side of the hills, about 30 minutes from the village – they said they were worried about being caught in a shootout between the police and the Maoists. According to sources, Tekalagudam was the first site of the encounter.

The Maoists had then chased the police personnel – towards Jhirgaon, hardly 1 km from Tekalagudam, where the bodies of 14 security personnel were found on Sunday. Twenty-two personnel lost their lives; 31 were injured in the attack. “Some of us went to Puvarti, some only went inside the jungles. We returned only on Monday, when security personnel had left the area, ”said Ramesh Corsa, 17. Corsa, a school student in Jagargunda, said he was the last of the escapees. When the Indian Express visited on Sunday, So the village used to be deserted, most of its residents returned on Tuesday. The jawans said that they were scared of the police retaliation. Mangadu Barse had left his home on Saturday to collect forest produce. He claimed that he was beaten by the police with rods and gun butts.