New Delhi: The one-member judicial commission that probed the 2009 Madanwada Naxal strikes in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district which left 29 police officers dead has strongly criticised IPS officer Mukesh Gupta, then inspector general of police of the region, accusing him of “command failure” which caused heavy loss to the police force.The report of Justice (retd) Shambhu Nath Srivastava was submitted to the government on February 1 and was tabled in the state assembly by chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday, along with his government’s action taken report (ATR).On July 12, 2009, 29 police officers, including then superintendent of police Vinod Kumar Choubey, were killed in three separate Maoist strikes in Madanwada and nearby places under the Manpur police station limits in Rajnandgaon. IPS Gupta was then posted as the IG of the Durg police range under which the district falls.In the first instance, Maoists gunned down two security officers near the Madanwada camp. Choubey and 25 police officers, after receiving information about this incident, headed towards Madanwada but were ambushed on their way.More than 10 years after the deadly attack, the Baghel-led Congress government constituted the judicial commission chaired by Justice Shambhu Nath Srivastava, a retired judge of the Allahabad high court, in January 2020 to probe the incident.The commission in its 109-page report drafted in Hindi said if the commander (Gupta) had “acted wisely or courageously”, the result would have been different. Gupta had sufficient time to call units of the Central Reserve Police Force and Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) to use them in the face-off, but did not, the report says.“It appears that he was too afraid for his life and at the same time, he pushed the SP [Choubey] to take on the Maoists. It has clearly come to the fore in the statements that the IG remained seated inside the bullet-proof car and did nothing,” it said.Gupta, an influential police officer during the previous BJP government, was suspended in February 2019 after an FIR was registered against him for alleged criminal conspiracy and illegal phone-tapping during a probe into an alleged ration supply scam. Before his suspension, Gupta was posted as the special director general of police (SDGP).The report stated that if Gupta had shown courage, the Maoists would not have looted the arms, bullet-proof jackets and boots of the martyred officers. The Naxals had sent the video footage of their celebration after executing the incident to the police, which is part of the evidence records. “It clearly highlights several instances of carelessness and negligence on the part of commander, Mukesh Gupta (IG Durg), in whose presence the entire massacre took place between 9:30 am to 5:15 pm,” the report states.The report said that as per the records available, the police force present at the spot just watched as mute spectators and were at the receiving end.“They allowed the Maoists to do whatever they wanted. There is no doubt that some witnesses claimed to have opened fire on the Maoists but it did not have any impact on them… If the police had fired on the Maoists, there would have been at least some deaths or injuries from their side as well. However, it is an accepted fact that neither any Maoists were killed nor sustained wounds,” it said.The report stated that despite knowing the large strength of Maoists, the then superintendent of police Choubey moved forward, fought with Maoists, and sacrificed his life while discharging his duties.“In the incident, the carelessness of the commander (the then IG) concerned caused a huge loss. No commander should be forgiven for this failure … The officer was completely ignorant of the ground level condition, The officer made a huge mistake in undertaking tasks without understanding the ground conditions and was completely unsuccessful in analysing it,” it said.Despite receiving information from the State Intelligence Branch (SIB) and intelligence department, the IG (Gupta) did not make an action plan in the Madanwada area, it said, suggesting that the commanders should draft an appropriate strategy after receiving intelligence inputs in future.According to the Times of India, the probe notes that the Maoists were intercepting the police’s wireless messages, which allowed them to lay an ambush at Kari Katti.Gupta rubbished the findings, telling TOI, “I am going to challenge this report in the high court. Isn’t it ironic that the only judge the state government chose for the judicial commission report, was against the one I have filed [a] petition at Chhattisgarh high court and a case against him is still pending? The selection of the judge to prepare an inquiry report is clearly motivated as the government already knew about the disturbance between me and him.”The judicial panel recommended that in future, only those officers who are trained in the counter-insurgency operation and competent should be posted in Naxal-hit areas.The suggestions also include strengthening the communication system and intelligence gathering mechanism, deployment of adequate numbers of personnel in police stations located in core Maoist-hit areas, and setting up an intelligence training centre in Chhattisgarh.(With PTI inputs)