‘Factual inaccuracies in reports on CRPF’

With reference to the three reports published in The Hindu under the following headlines on December 13, 2014, (1) Jawans were left leaderless in Maoist bastion. IG reaches spot after 4 hours; (2) CRPF troops kept waiting while commander met IG; and (3) Central Reserve Police mess, all authored by Mr. Rahul Pandita, they are being contested in court by Mr. H.S. Sidhu, Inspector General, CRPF.

Mr. Sidhu has pointed out the following factual inaccuracies in the above-mentioned articles, namely: (a) At no point of time was he camping just 400 metres away from the party under attack and there was no delay on his part in reaching the 223 Battalion under attack; (b) His was the first party to reach the troops of the 223 Battalion under attack and rescue them; (c) Mr. Sidhu provided proper leadership to his men in a difficult situation.

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The Hindu regrets inaccuracies that may have crept into the reports.)