Union home minister Rajnath Singh. File/PTINew Delhi/Raipur: Home minister Rajnath Singh Tuesday directed CRPF DG (in charge) Sudeep Lakhtakia and senior security adviser in the home ministry K. Vijay Kumar to stay put in Chhattisgarh to ensure coordinated and targeted anti-naxal operations.
The home minister's directive came as he was apparently unhappy over the functioning of the CRPF which had faced reverses in the recent past.
He had conveyed to the CRPF brass to resolve some 'inherent' problems like weaponry, logistics and intelligence gathering to ensure lethality and better results. Casualties should be avoided at all costs, he said.
The officers will stay in Chhattisgarh till a robust anti-Naxal operation is carried out against those involved in the killing of 25 CRPF personnel, sources said.
Lakhtakia and Vijay Kumar will ensure targeted action, based on pin-point intelligence. Vijay Kumar is a former chief of the CRPF and is credited with the elimination of forest brigand Veerappan in 2004 in Tamil Nadu.
"Senior officials visited the spot and took stock of the incident. They also spoke to CRPF jawans at their camp in Burkapal," special director-general (anti-maoist operations) D.M. Awasthi said. Awasthi was also among the officials who visited the attack spot.
Vijay Kumar and Lakhtakia were accompanied by Chhattisgarh's principal secretary (Home) B.V.R. Subramaniam, director-general of police A.N. Upadhyay, and MHA, para-military and state police officers. The home minister said on Tuesday in Raipur that the government would review its strategy on battling the Naxalites.
