Nabarangapur MP Pradeep Majhi on Friday launched an indefinite hunger strike before the Raj Bhavan here demanding information from the State Government on five tribal people missing in Malkangiri district, part of his constituency.
Coming down heavily on the Government Majhi said, “Five people went missing in police custody over the last few years. Four of them were arrested on the charge of being Maoist supporters. Unfortunately, neither the police produce them in the court nor hand over their bodies to the families if they were dead.” Citing one of the incidents, Majhi said police had taken away Trinath Samrath from his village in April last year in connection with a theft case. The man did not return home. Police did not produce him in a court, he said.
However, Malkangiri SP Akhileswar Singh refuted the allegations and said only Trinath Samrath has been missing. The police have filed a missing case and efforts are on to locate him, Singh said. He said the other four people were dead and a court has already given clean chits to the police in the matter. But Manhi asserted that the families of all the five missing people were also sitting with him at the protest site.