CRPF constable kills wife for stopping him from going for election duty in Chhattisgarh

A Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) constable, deployed with the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) in Chhattisgarh, killed his wife after she stopped him from reporting for election duty.

The CRPF constable, Guruveer Singh, had entered into a scuffle with his wife Anupriya Gautam at the government quarters in Jagdalpur when she told him that he shouldn't go for election duty in the neighbouring Naxal-infested Bijapur district.

Superintendent of Police Jagdalpur Hensagar Sidar told Hindustan Times that the CRPF constable didn't agree with his wife and strangled her. Guruveer Singh also tried to pass off the murder as suicide by calling the local police station and telling them that his wife took her own life.

"The post-mortem report and the other leads during the course of investigation proved it to be a case of murder. We arrested Guruveer Singh and he confessed to the crime during the interrogation," Sidar added.

Maoist attacks fear keeping security, poll officials away from election duty?

In 2018, when the Assembly elections were held in Chhattisgarh, a series of incidents were reported of the security personnel and election officers refusing to report to poll duty, as a result of which they faced suspension. There were also cases of cop suicides and heart attacks due to fear of Naxal attacks during the election season. 

In 2014, when the last Lok Sabha polls were being held, the Maoists had carried out two deadly attacks on a bus ferrying election officers and CRPF personnel in Bastar and Bijapur districts. At least 11 people, including six polling officials, were killed in the deadly attacks.

In 2018, four personnel of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) were suspended after they failed to report to election duty in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district. It later turned out that they refrained from going for duty since they had witnessed a gruesome killing of one of their senior officials by Naxals.

The central government had last year deployed around 150 teams of paramilitary forces in Chhattisgarh suspecting fresh attacks by Naxals. Nearly 40,000 CRPF, Border Security Force and Indo-Tibetan Police Force personnel are already deployed in Chhattisgarh to counter any Naxal attack.