Himalayauk himalaya Gaurav Uttarakhand
Fifty nine newly recruited commandos of the CRPFstunned the top brass of the largest paramilitary force when they abandoned their journey to the headquarters in Bihar and went to their respective homes without informing anyone.
The incident occurred on Sunday at the Mughalsarai station when the commandos, on way from their training centre in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar after their 5-week basic training, apparently decided to abandon their forward journey and left for their homes or some undisclosed location.
The mass bunking of 59 COBRA commandos, who were returning from J&K after a training session, forced the CRPF to order an inquiry after they didn’t report for duty in Bihar where they were supposed to be posted in Naxalite-affected areas.
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General K Durga Prasad told Times of India that he has ordered a Court of Inquiry into the incident. Prasad said that the commandos had come early from J&K as they had to reach Bihar on February 7. He, however, agreed that “they cannot be termed as deserters even though they should have informed the seniors”.
Officials said the jawans also did not inform their contingent commander on board the train as they made their daring escape bid in the night.
Senior officials of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and CRPF said the jawans were scheduled to report at the headquarters of the 205th COBRA unit in Gaya in Bihar for their onward deployment for conducting special anti-Naxalite operations in Bihar. They were trained in a batch of 600 commandoes in J&K. Others were to follow them later.
The force downplayed the incident saying, “These personnel were returning to their unit after completion of their 6 months training at Recruitment Training Centre, Srinagar and had their return reservations from Jammu to Gaya on 5 February, 2017 in Shealdah Express. Due to inclement weather and road blockade these personnel were sent to Jammu on 1 Feb, 2017 and decided to board an early train on 2 nd February. Since they were early as per their scheduled programme, they decided on their own to avail Saturday and Sunday to visit their home without prior permission from competent authority. These personnel have committed a misconduct for which they will be dealt departmentally.”
