Rampur attack inside job, claim UP cops
Preetam Srivastava/Rakesh K. Singh, The Pioneer
January 4, 2008

Logistical support to the terror module that carried out the 1/1 early morning raid at the Group Centre of CRPF in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly provided by an insider within the force, according to the initial investigation of the State police.

Basing their suspicion on this premise, sleuths of Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) picked up a CRPF jawan Javed Ahmad -- a former terrorist who was rehabilitated and inducted into the paramilitary force before being posted at Rampur.

The suspicion of the ATS is not without reason as Javed happened to be sharing the same Guard Room with two other colleagues, which was initially stormed and sprayed with bullets fired from Kalashnikov assault rifles by the terrorists.

While his colleagues perished in the firing, Javed was left without a scratch. His version that he had neither seen anyone nor heard gunshots at the time of the attack, further lent credence to the ATS suspicion. Consequently, he was picked up and whisked away to an undisclosed location for sustained interrogation.

The ease with which the terrorists approached the CRPF Group Centre in khaki fatigues and executed their sinister plans further emphasise the fact that they were well-informed by someone who was acquainted with the place and its topography.

Sources in Central security agencies said the operation was well-planned and the suspected militants could have reconnoitred the area in the third week of December when a recruitment drive was on at the Group Centre.

The ATS was looking for the black sheep from the very start and zeroed in on Javed due to his flip-flops during the initial questioning about the incident.

Interestingly, about a dozen rehabilitated former ultras-turned-CRPF jawans are posted at Rampur centre. The ATS and intelligence agencies are analysing the data of calls made by all these jawans besides tracking their movement as per the call records gathered by the investigators.

Additional Director General (Law and Order, Crime) Brij Lal when contacted said, "The probe is headed in the right direction but it would be premature to make any further comment."

At the height of terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir, the State Government decided to offer jobs to the misguided youth who expressed willingness to shun violence and join the mainstream. All such militants were rehabilitated and provided jobs but only after their names were cleared by the Army and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Later, when Mufti Mohamed Sayeed became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, the rule to seek clearance from the Army and intelligence agencies was given a go-by. Hundreds of such militants were given jobs, including in the paramilitary force, without proper antecedent verification, intelligence sources said.

However, CRPF officials here maintained that the internal inquiry being conducted by the paramilitary force prima facie points to the involvement of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT).

However, CRPF officials also did not rule out the role of Maoists in the incident even as the internal inquiry into the incident continues and a detailed report is still awaited.

On a question whether the incident could be the handiwork of CRPF insiders, the officials maintained that the State police is probing the matter and nothing more could be revealed at this juncture.