Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jul 21:

A five-member central team of the Congress will visit Gumudumaha – home of Kandhamal police firing victims on Saturday, informed Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan here today.

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The central team announced by the Congress president will try to ascertain under what circumstances five innocent persons including a 13-month-old child were killed in police firing during an anti-Maoist operation in Kurtamgarh forest on the night of July 8, Harichandan said.

“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has announced a central team to visit Gumudumaha. The team will visit Gumudumaha on Saturday. V Kishore Chandra Deo, Jairam Ramesh, Arun Oraon, Vincent Pala and K H Muniyappa have been announced as the members of the team,” said Harichandan briefing reporters here.

It is worthwhile to mention here that a delegation of Congress MLAs led by Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly Narasingha Mishra has already visited the village and spoken to the family members of the victims.

Mishra had then said: "Development is almost nil in the area. The issue of the development will be raised in the assembly on a priority basis.”

Moreover, Congress members led by Harichandan, AICC Secretary Bhakta Das and former Nabarangpur MP Pradeep Majhi  had gheraoed Baliguda police station on Tuesday and staged a demonstration demanding a High Court monitored judicial probe by a sitting judge of the Kandhamal firing.