A fact-finding team (FFT) of various human rights bodies have put a question mark on the series of police-Maoist encounters in the Malkangiri cutoff area on Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border (AOB) on October 24 , 25 and 27 and said the incident of encounter was a serial killing by the police.
At a Press meet here on Saturday, the FFT team which visited the encounter sites and eight other hamlets and interacted with the Adivasis and local leaders said the real encounter with Maoists took place in October 24 morning at Ramguda.
later on October 25 and 26, in the name of combing operation the joint forces had captured, tortured and killed the villagers and injured Maoists without leaving any eyewitnesses to the brutal operations, the team said.
The injuries on the deceased showed that the joint forces attacked the villagers and the Maoists with an intention to kill and not apprehend them alive. The chopping and disfiguring of the faces, heads and vital organs of the deceased showed the brutality of torture, the team alleged.
The team members said they met the family members of the deceased Syamala Pangi of Similipadar, Kumulu Sanabasia , Khilo Jairam of Khajurigada, Sindhe Khilo of Mukudpalli, Bhumuli Bacchilipadar and others who were killed in the encounter or are still missing. Their version is different from the official version.
The relatives of the deceased of four villages, with whom the team interacted, said it is usual practice in the area to attend the meetings called by the Maoists.
The team demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting or former judge of Supreme Court since it was a joint operation involving two States of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh with the help of central forces. Criminal cases should be filed against those in the encounter killings, the investigations should be monitored by the SC, implementation of Forest Rights Act and compensation of minimum Rs 10 lakh each to the victims’ families, the FFT demanded.
Among others, State convenor of Campaign against Fabricated Cases, Odisha Narendra Mohanty and rights activists Mahindra Parida and Biswapriya Kanungo were present.