'My men cannot be rubbished like this'

Upset over a report in a private television channel that three of its personnel on duty at the prime minister's residence were terrorists, the Central Reserve Police Force on Wednesday said it was contemplating legal action against the news channel.

"My men cannot be rubbished like this. We have a history of dedication to our duty. None of the men named by the television channel have even a remote history of being a terrorist," an agitated CRPF Director General J K Sinha told reporters in New Delhi.

"I am consulting my legal cell and we will not hesitate to seek legal recourse, if needed," he said.

He was reacting to India TV channel's report on Tuesday night in which it claimed that three personnel of the CRPF's second battalion, who had been placed on the security duty of the prime minister, were residents of Kashmir and had belonged to terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.

Terming it as a 'blatant lie,' Sinha said while Gulzar Lone, a resident of Anantnag in South Kashmir, joined CRPF in 1988 during a recruitment drive in the national capital, Mehruddin was a resident of Punjab and had joined the force in 1995 at the Bangalore recruitment camp.

The third person -- Mansoor Ahmed Lone -- a resident of Anantnag, had joined the force in 1998 under the category of former militant and had stated in his application that he belonged to the Muslim Mujahideen outfit. However, senior security

officials said the outfit was only on paper and was probably formed only to provide jobs to unemployed youths of the Valley so that they did not become a ready fodder for militants.

Rubbishing the claim of the channel that the trio had been put on duty outside the prime minister's residence, Sinha said that they were posted with the Delhi Police in 2004 and were on guard duty at Teen Murti Lane, a road the prime minister never takes.

He also said that the antecedents of every individual recruited in the CRPF were checked through the state police and Intelligence Bureau. "In their cases nothing adverse was found," he said.

On the case pertaining to a missing carbine, Sinha said head constable Raj Kumar was sent on a compulsory retirement for leaving his weapon unattended. The Delhi Police had registered a case in November 27, 2004, against seven men, including these three besides Raj Kumar, Balwant Singh, T Chuwangi and Radha Krishan.

"They were sent for lie detector, brain mapping and nacro analysis tests and nothing adverse was found against the three," Sinha said, adding that the CRPF also conducted a departmental enquiry against all the seven and nothing adverse was found against the three.

"Now they are fighting insurgency in the Northeast and I wonder what the TV channel is doing trying to demoralise them," he said, wanting to know if the TV Channel was suggesting that everyone from Kashmir was a militant.