Raipur, May 27: The anti-terror National Investigation Agency today sent a team to Chhattisgarh to probe whether security lapses by the central forces or the state’s BJP government led to Saturday’s Maoist ambush that killed 27 people including several Congress leaders.

Junior home minister R.P.N. Singh said the NIA probe would look into reports that the route of the party convoy, attacked while returning to Jagdalpur from a rally in Sukma, was changed at the eleventh hour.

Some Congress leaders have suggested a conspiracy behind the attack that has wiped out virtually the entire top rung of the party’s state leadership and alleged that adequate security wasn’t provided.

Former chief minister Ajit Jogi today alleged he had heard from local Congress workers that the route was changed “at the advice of a local party leader” but did not name the leader.

However, local MLA Kawasi Lakma, who had organised the Sukma rally and was injured in the attack, said: “To my knowledge, the route of the convoy was not changed.”

The route taken by the convoy is the only direct one between Sukma and Jagdalpur --- any other route would involve a roundabout journey through the Maoist zone, local sources confirmed.

Junior home minister Singh said if the NIA found any security lapses, the guilty would be punished.

“Security lapses could have taken place. (In case of) any lapse on the part of central forces or the state government, (the) buck will have to stop somewhere. We have to take action,” he said.

Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had yesterday said the NIA would investigate the incident and that chief minister Raman Singh had given the go-ahead.

Within hours of being formally given charge of the probe today, a team from the federal investigative agency flew to Raipur on its way to ambush site Darbha in Bastar.

Headed by inspector-general Sanjiv Kumar Singh, the team will investigate the circumstances leading to the attack and find out which Maoists were involved in it, official sources said.

Reports have suggested that Maoist politburo member Katakam Sudarshan alias Anand plotted and organised the attack but Singh said it was too early to identify the mastermind.

Among the dead are Mahendra Karma, former state leader of the Opposition and founder of the now outlawed anti-Maoist militia Salwa Judum, state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, and former MLA Uday Mudaliar. Thirty-two people were injured, including former Union minister V.C. Shukla.

The last rites of Patel, Dinesh and Karma were today performed in Raigarh and Dantewada, respectively. Rahul Gandhi attended both funerals.

Union home secretary R.K. Singh, Intelligence Bureau director Syed Asif Ibrahim and other senior central officials will visit Chhattisgarh tomorrow.

Sources said they would meet state officials and discuss security deployment and reinforcements from neighbouring states.

The Centre had already deployed 30 battalions (approximately 30,000 personnel) in Chhattisgarh to help the state battle the Maoists.

After the attack, it despatched another 2,000 paramilitary personnel on a request from Raipur.

Defence minister A.K. Antony has clarified that there is no proposal to deploy the army in Maoist-affected states More than 1,000 security personnel have been sent to Bastar’s jungles for a major offensive against the Maoists, state director-general of police Ramniwas said.

“We have got inputs about the Maoist leaders who were involved in the attack and efforts are on to nab them,” he said.

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The attack case has been registered in Darbha police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act, Explosive Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Left parties CPM, CPI and CPI(ML) Liberation today condemned the Maoist attack saying they disapproved of violent retribution against political opponents, but also opposed the killings of and atrocities against innocent tribals.

“This is the latest and most shocking example of the politics of violence and terror practised by the Maoists against all their political opponents,” the CPM politburo said.

It accused the Chhattisgarh government of failing to provide adequate security for the Congress’s Parivartan Yatra.

“On the one hand, the BJP government allows the killing of innocent tribals as happened last week in the name of fighting Maoists and on the other hand, it utterly fails to protect legitimate democratic activities in the state,” the politburo said.

A CPI statement said the party “disapproved (of) terror and violence against political opponents”.

It noted that the dead included the founder of the Salwa Judum that was “used to divide tribal people and pit one section against the other”.

“But that does not give (the) right to the Maoists to resort to violence and terror,” the CPI central secretariat said, asking the Centre and the state government to address the genuine concerns of the tribal people.

CPI(ML) Liberation expressed concern at the spiral of violence, including the police killing of eight tribals in the same area a week ago.

It added: “Militaristic actions of this kind by the Maoists, isolated from democratic movements and political assertion, cannot be justified by the logic of retribution, and are counterproductive in developing any mass resistance to the government’s policies of corporate plunder and Operation Green Hunt.”

Chhattisgarh is one of the worst Maoist violence-affected states and has witnessed nearly 1,900 killings in the past eight years. Of the victims, around 570 were civilians, 700 were security personnel and the rest were Maoist cadres.

Additional reporting by PTI