Chhattisgarh’s SIA Probes Narayanpur Explosives Recovery

Raipur: The State Investigation Agency (SIA), constituted the by Chhattisgarh police on the lines of NIA to probe incidents related to Naxalism, has been entrusted with its first assignment to investigate the recent recovery of explosives in insurgency-hit Narayanpur district under Bastar in the state.

The SIA has begun an investigation into the March 19 incident in which the local police busted the supply network of Maoists in Narayanpur district by arresting a couple.

“SIA has been entrusted with the task of investigating the recent incident of recovery of explosives in Narayanpur district. This is the first assignment of the newly constituted SIA”, additional director general of police (intelligence) of Chhattisgarh Vivekanand Sinha told this newspaper on Wednesday.

The SIA has been constituted only to probe cases related to Naxalism and terrorism for their quick effective investigation, he added.

A tribal couple, Chameli Bai (35) and Ravi Markam (45), hailing from Umaria in Madhya Pradesh were arrested in Dhodai under Narayanpur district on March 19 this year on charges of supplying explosives to Maoists in Bastar.

Police had seized white powder, suspected to be potassium nitrate used for making bombs, along with detonators from them, the case diary related to the incident said.

The couple used to sell herbs in different parts of Chhattisgarh including the interior pockets in Leftwing extremism-affected Bastar. They were accused of selling explosives to Maoists in a weekly market in Narayanpur.

The SIA has been constituted by the Chhattisgarh government as a new nodal agency to probe cases of Leftwing extremism and terrorism in the state.

The SIA will act as the nodal agency of the state for coordination with the NIA.

The Chhattisgarh cabinet approved the constitution of SIA on March seven this year.