The Bharatiya Janta Party on Sunday demanded a CBI probe into the death of two activists of Gandhamardhan Surakshaya Parishad in what it said was a “fake encounter” with the security personnel on December 28 at Paikamal in Bargarh district.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP state president Jual Oram said the death of two persons — Madhav Singh Thakur and Ramesh Sahu — during a “so-called anti-Maoist operation” in Orissa’s Bargarh district was a “planned murder to suppress the people’s voice against the loot of the state’s natural resources”.
“Madhav Singh Thakur was a BJP functionary. He was the president of Paikamal BJP circle. The second victim, Ramesh Sahu was small shopowner. Thakur was a leader of Gandhamardan Surakshya Parishad, a forum of civil society that was resisting handing over the mineral resources of Gandhamardan hill to private companies. The state government was targeting him since he did not allow their (government) design to fructify. This so-called encounter is a clear case of calculated murder of two innocent people,” Mr Oram alleged. The BJP president, while demanding a CBI probe into the incident, said no amount of terror by the Naveen Patnaik government could prevent the BJP to continue its agitation against the sell out of state’s natural resources.
Meanwhile, families of Madhav Singh Thakur and Ramesh Sahu, on Saturday lodged a complaint at the Paikamal police station accusing a section of security personnel engaged in anti-Maoist operation of killing the duo without any provocation on December 28. After initial reluctance, the police was forced to receive the complaints after locals gheroed the police station demanding registration of the case, said senior BJP Jayanarayan Mishra.