‘Man killed by police in N’Patna not Maoist’

Odisha Sun Times Bureau

Rayagada, April 19:

Social activist Prafulla Samantray today demanded a judicial inquiry into the killing of a suspected Maoist in Narayanpatna in Odisha’s Koraput district on April 13, claiming that the slain person had little to do with Maoists.

“While the people in Narayanpatna area have all along participated in the democratic protests peacefully, the police have tried to create disturbance in the region and conducted a false encounter  to kill an innocent person Purno Ulluka. We want a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge and compensation of Rs 20 lakh to his family,” said Samantray at a press conference here.

However, the police claimed that the Maoist who was shot dead in an encounter near the Forest Range office in Narayanpatna on Sunday night was a wanted ultra and was involved in a number of civilian killings in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon area in recent months. The slain Maoist, identified as Purno Ulluka hailed from the nearby Basanaput village and was an active member of the Koraput-Srikakulam division of the outlawed CPI-Maoist, police said.

The encounter took place when a group of 12 or15 Maoists were reportedly found moving towards the venue of Thakurani Yatra which was being celebrated in Narayanpatna, allegedly to punish some local leaders who were instrumental in encouraging people to vote in large numbers in defiance of the Maoist call for poll boycott.