On a humid Thursday night last week, 18 people were killed by a joint Security Forces team in a clearing in a forest, deep in the heart of Naxal-controlled Chhattisgarh. The forces described it as one of the biggest successes in the war against Maoists, saying that all those killed were either Naxals or their sympathisers. But when confronted with a storm of protests from the ground, they revised their position, saying they need to enquire into the identities of those who lost their lives. Using eyewitness accounts from the site of the encounter to interviews with survivors of the attack scattered across hospitals in Chhattisgarh, to interviews with Security Forces and by accessing official records of the event, Truth vs Hype this week pieces together a detailed investigation of what is turning out to be one of the most controversial chapters in the history of the insurgency.
