Over a week after killing cop, Maoists say sorry

The CPI (Maoist) on Monday apologised for the killing of an unarmed Chhattisgarh constable in Sukma district earlier this month. On October 18, the Maoists had halted a bus ferrying constable Shiv Kumar Sidar to a health centre from his camp in Chintalnar and killed him.

“Our guerrillas killed a policeman…without the permission of our party. We seek an apology (for the act). Shiv Kumar Sidar was going for the treatment of his illness. He was not carrying arms for people’s exploitation. In such circumstances, we consider it wrong that he was nabbed and killed,” a statement released by the south regional divisional committee of the CPI (Maoist) said.

The statement said that their stand towards the police remained the same: “Hum bina target wale police ko nahi marenge. (We will not kill policemen we have not targeted)”. The apology also urged security forces to stop harassing and torturing innocent villagers.

Advertisement

The Maoists had earlier apologised for killing two Bastar-based journalists last year, and after they blew up an ambulance and a minibus in Bastar this year.

Last October, Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee Secretary Ramanna had admitted that the killings of PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh in Darbha was a mistake.