Naxal attack: 42 of 76 CRPF jawans hailed from UP

Of the 76 Central Reserve Police Force personnel who died in the Naxal attack in the Mukrana forests in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, 42 of them hailed from Uttar Pradesh.

Bodies of 25 jawans hailing from the state arrived in Lucknow in Tricolour-draped coffins by a special aircraft on Wednesday afternoon.

"While 25 of these were brought from Jagdalpur to Lucknow in two batches, the rest were flown over to Delhi, from where they would be carried to different destinations in western UP, from where the jawans hailed," UP Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal said, while awaiting the arrival of the aircraft at Lucknow airport.

Lal received the 25 bodies with full police honours on behalf of the UP government before sending them to the respective families.

While 12 more bodies arrived in the afternoon, 13 were flown in the evening.

"The CRPF has provided us with a list of the names and addresses of the victims and we have issued necessary instructions to the concerned district police chiefs to ensure every assistance to the bereaved families," he said.

No family member of any of the slain jawans was seen at the Lucknow airport.

Six jawans each from Bihar and Uttarakhand were killed in the attack, while four personnel were from Rajasthan, three from Tamil Nadu, two each from Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Orissa and one each from Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi.

Jawans of Uttar Pradesh police paid tribute to the martyrs by giving a guard of honour at the Lucknow airport.

"Last time we talked to our father was yesterday morning, a few hours before he was killed in Naxal attack. Little did we knew that it was the last time he was talking to me and my mother," Devendra Kumar Tiwari, son of CRPF jawan Brijesh Kumar Tiwari killed in the ambush, said.

He said his father had visited them last in December after getting promotion. Sub-Inspector Brijesh is survived by a wife, two sons and a daughter.

"My mother is in a state of deep shock and I haven't told my brother, who is pursuing engineering from a college in Merrut, about this tragedy yet. I lied to him that our father was injured and is serious," Devendra said.

About 200 troops of CRPF -- headquartered in New Delhi -- along with senior officers were present at Palam Technical airport to receive 24 bodies, brought in an Air Force AN-32 aircraft, to be sent to neighbouring places.

In Delhi, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank led the officers and other dignitaries in placing wreaths on the bodies. Air Vice Marshal R Sitaraman and CRPF Additional Director General (headquarters) J C Dabas laid the wreaths on behalf of the respective organisations.

Victims of the Red carnage:

Deputy Commandant Satyawan Singh (48) and Assistant Commandant B L Meena (30) were among the 82 personnel who were caught in the ambush on Tuesday.

According to a list released by the CRPF, those who hailed from Uttar Pradesh were:

Zamurulhasan, Sharvdev Singh, B K Sharma, Brijesh Kumar Tiwari, Rakesh Kumar, Ved Pal, Bhupender Kumar, Awdhesh, Satrajeet Ram, Manak Chandra Sharma, Devender Yadav, Narender Kumar, Khalil Khan, Jamuna Prasad Giri, Sanjay Kumar Jalaon, Manoj Kumar Pandey, Navneet Kumar, Arender Kumar, Virender Singh, Udaj Veer Singh, Suraj Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Mahender Kumar, Tara Singh, Ajit Singh, Ramanand Yadav, Jitender Kumar, Praveen Kumar Raj, Satender Singh Yadav, Ranjeet Kumar Yadav, Dharam Pal Singh, Udai veer Singh, Nahar Singh, Sachin Kumar, Satish Chandra, Rajender Singh Rana, Sushil Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Nirvesh Kumar,Amit Kumar Singh, Inderjeet Kumar Ram and Shyam Lal.

The six personnel from Uttarakhand were Manoj Nogai, Brij Anand, Lalit Kumar, Mahesh Singh, Vinod Pal Singh, Tikam Singh.

Six jawans from Bihar, Surinder Rai, Prakash Kumar, Jeetu Anand, Bishwanath Raj, Bhutan Yadav and Moti Lal Ram, were killed in the ambush.

K Vijay Kumar, D Shekar, Mohan Rangan from Tamil Nadu, Pradeep Kumar and Sandeep Kumar from Haryana, Loes Xess and Raja Ram Ekka from Chhattisgarh, Sampat Lal and Ram Karan Meena from Rajasthan and Yogeshwar Naik and H K Malik, who were from Orissa, sacrificed their lives during the attack.

Other deceased CRPF personnel are Ali Hasan (Delhi), Amle Sopan (Maharashtra), Shivappa (Karnataka), L K Kalita (Assam), Rajesh K (Kerala), Ashish Kumar Bhagel (West Bengal) and M C M Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), the list said.

Inputs from PTI