CRPF Officer Wrote to HQ On Lack of Training Months Before Pulwama

Notably, the CRPF official had been part of the probe team in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case in the past.

Representational image of CRPF personnel standing guard.

(Photo: PTI)

A senior CRPF official had sent a number of letters and a report from January to November last year to the CRPF headquarters to outline the lack of infrastructure and training in a Counter-Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism (CIAT) school meant for the central forces, according to a report in The Indian Express published on Monday, 1 April.

The letters were reportedly written by CRPF Inspector General Rajnish Rai, with the last one sent on 22 November 2018, just months before the Pulwama terror attack took place on 14 February.

Rai, who was in-charge of the CIAT school in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, had also pointed out to shortcomings in two other such schools located in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri and Assam's Silchar.

In a February 2018 letter, Rai was quoted by the daily as saying:

“Presently, CRPF has three CIAT Schools in the country; yet, contrary to what the name suggests, we do not offer a single CIAT related course in any of these locations. This is even more surprising since we know very well that CRPF is in the forefront of facing three internal security challenges: terrorism in Kashmir Valley, the insurgency in Northeast, and left-wing extremism (LWE) in Central India.”

CRPF IG Rajnish Rai’s letter

Pointing out to its training efforts, the CRPF, on its part, told the daily of its plans to train 15,256 personnel at four Central Training Colleges and 6,903 personnel at CIAT schools in 2019. In the Chittoor school, a CIAT course for a Quick Action Team (QAT) is underway with 1,274 personnel getting training, it further said.

Notably, Rai had been part of the probe team in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case in the past as a supervising officer, having arrested three officials, including DG Vanzara, back in 2007.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)