Sukma attack case may be handed over to NIA for probe

NEW DELHI: The Centre is likely to hand over to the National Investigation Agency ( NIA) the probe into the killing of 25 CRPF personnel in Sukma in Chhattisgarh by the Maoists.

A senior Home Ministry functionary said it was a fit case to be handed over to the NIA as so many security personnel were killed in a single incident.

"We are contemplating handing over the probe into the Sukma incident to the NIA," the functionary said.

Twenty-five CRPF personnel were killed and seven wounded in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on April 24, in the deadliest ambush by Maoists of security forces this year.

The NIA is mandated to probe terror attacks anywhere in the country. The government considers the CPI (Maoists), which perpetrated the violence, as a terrorist organisation.