'CRPF killed villagers, not naxals in Chhattisgarh'

Activist Swami Agnivesh today claimed that those killed in the gunbattle at the Basuguda police station in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh yesterday were innocent villagers and not Naxals, media reports said.

Activist Swami Agnivesh on Saturday claimed that those killed in the gunbattle at the Basuguda police station in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Friday were innocent villagers and not Naxals, media reports said.

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"According to my information the people who died were innocent people. Those who are being named as Naxals are not Naxalites but Adivasis. Neither should the CRPF personnel shoot nor should the Naxalites," claimed Swami Agnivesh in New Delhi on Saturday.

Two CRPF personnel and four Chhattisgarh Police personnel were also injured in the gunbattle on Friday.

Two Naxals, who were injured in the encounter, were apprehended and have been air-lifted for medical treatment to state capital Raipur, a senior CRPF official said.

CRPF officials said two "prominent" Naxals, operating in the Bijapur-Dantewada axis, were also killed in the encounter.