Kandhamal firing: Odisha DGP forms SIT

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Jul 13:

Odisha DG Police K B Singh this evening announced the formation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Kandhamal firing in which five innocent persons including a two-year-old child were killed and an equal number injured.

According to the announcement Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC), SP Gurudas Kundu would be the investigating officer (IO) while Ramachandra Gouda, Sadananda Guha, A Patnaik, Nirupama Sethi and Bijay Bal have been named as other members of the SIT.

Earlier, late in the evening on yesterday, the state government’s Home department had issued a notification ordering for the constitution of a SIT to investigate the death of five civilians during anti-Maoist operations on July 8, 2016, in Gumudumaha forest under Baliguda Police Station of Kandhamal district.

While the notification instructed the DG and IG Police to constitute a SIT in the HRPC at State Police Headquarters in Cuttack, it said Mahendra Pratap, ADG of Police, HRPC would supervise the investigation.

It may be mentioned here that five innocent villagers belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities of Gumudumaha village were killed and an equal number injured in police firing during anti-Maoist operations on the night of July 8 in the Kurtumgarh forest under Baliguda police limits.

Those  killed included a two-year-old child. These people were returning to their homes in two auto-rickshaws after receiving wages under MNREGS from Baliguda.