A family in Palamu district’s Bakoria village has accused Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and State Police jawans of killing a three-year-old girl during a search operation conducted on Friday midnight, police said on Sunday. The allegation has swung police in action and Palamu’s Superintendent of Police (SP), Ajay Linda has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the matter.

The deceased’s mother, Babita Devi, said that a few jawans from the Central and State police forces came to her house looking for her husband, Vinod Singh, at around 12 midnight on Friday. After failing to find Singh in the house, they rammed her toddler on the floor in a fit of rage and she died, Devi added.

“I have constituted an SIT to probe into the matter. The girl’s body has been sent for autopsy. The autopsy report will give us a clearer picture on the cause of death,” Linda said.

The SIT, headed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police, has recorded statements of the family members. Police sources said that the team may have visited the house to nab Vinod Singh, who was suspected to be an aid of a Left Wing Extremist group. Investigating Officer, Shambhu Kumar Singh, said that the postmortem report is likely to be handed over to the police by Monday. “We are investigating the case from all perspectives. A medical team is conducting the postmortem at Palamu Medical College,” Singh said.

The deceased’s father Vinod Singh told local media persons that he was innocent and had no idea as to why police came looking for him. He said that he was not at home when the incident occurred. Vinod’s wife narrated the incident to him when he returned home. The family has demanded strict actions against the jawans.

According to figures with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Palamu is one of the 18 Left Wing Extremism-hit districts in Jharkhand. Besides the CPI (Maoist), there are at least 17 splinter outfits said to be active in the State.

Acting on tip offs, police and security forces here often conduct search operations to nab Maoist sympathisers and informers.