Even though ten days have passed into the brutal murder of RTI user Ganesh Chandra Panda (52) in Brahmapur, the Ganjam police are nowhere near apprehending the killers.
Upset over the police inaction, Odisha Sochana Adhikar Manch convenor and RTI activist Pradip Pradhan decided to launch an agitation.“No arrests have been made in the case yet. The police inaction exposes how the State administration is serious about the safety and security of RTI activists,” said Pradhan, who was also a member of a fact-finding team which visited the Brahmapur to get firsthand information about the incident.
Threatening that the right activists and various civil society groups would soon launch agitation protesting the police inaction and lack of safety for RTI users, he said they would meet the Chief Secretary next week to apprise him about the issue. “During our visit to the deceased RTI user’s native village and the Golanthara police station, the police officials assured us that the culprits have already been identified and would be nabbed soon. But over a week has elapsed and nothing tangible has happened,” added Pradhan.
Pradhan said RTI activists would also meet the Chief Minister and the Director General of Police next week to seek their intervention for an early arrest of the killers.Ganesh was killed on December 29 by a local contractor and some of his men in broad daylight as he had sought some information about the low-standard construction of a road in his locality through RTI.