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Nagpur, Feb. 10: A celebrated, but controversial, anti-Maoist campaigner who was part of a Chhattisgarh government-backed militia fighting the rebels before being appointed a cop was killed in an ambush yesterday.
The death of Kartam Surya, feted by the government as “Bastar Tiger” and given other bravery medals, is being seen as a major setback to the drive against rebels in south Bastar where he was active.
The 27-year-old had joined the Salwa Judum militia in 2003 and was later appointed a special police officer (SPO) — non-regular cops drawn from among local residents.
Surya had trained with Grey Hounds, Andhra Pradesh police’s elite anti-Maoist squad, and played a key role in mobilising youths to join as SPOs, known in local parlance as Koya commandos.
Long on the rebels’ hit list, Surya was considered a mentor to the commandos. He was recruited as a regular constable after the Supreme Court last year asked the Raman Singh government to disband the Salwa Judum.
But Surya was also mired in allegations of rights violations. When he was killed last evening, Surya was returning with other cops to their base camp at Dornapal in Sukma district after deposing before a CBI team probing an alleged assault by locals on Swami Agnivesh in March last year. Surya was among a team of SPOs, now disbanded, accused of instigating the attack.
The Maoists first triggered a landmine blast, hitting the jeep in which the cops were travelling and then opened fire. Surya and the driver died on the spot, police said.
Additional superintendent of police D.S. Maravi, who had led the team and deposed himself, and three others were injured and are in hospital.
After recording their statements before the CBI team, the team was supposed to return to Dornapal but instead went in other direction to a place called Polampalli, considered a Maoist stronghold. Police bosses are at a loss to understand why the cops deviated from the designated path.
Surya and the other SPOs are accused of assaulting Agnivesh when the social activist led a fact-finding mission in connection with the razing and torching of three villages in nearby Chintalnar, where Maoists had killed 76 CRPF jawans in an ambush in 2010.
The state government had faced a lot of criticism over the alleged assault. Subsequently, the probe was handed over to the CBI.
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