The three-member BJP Parliamentary team, which is on a visit to Odisha now, visited the grief-stricken Gumudumaha village in Kandhamal district, where five civilians were killed during an anti-Maoist operation on July 8.
The team along with some State party leaders arrived at Baliguda on Saturday morning and from there went to Gumudumaha and Kurtamgarh for an on-the-spot probe.
“Security forces have killed five innocent people. The State Government has been trying to cover up the issue. We feel pained after meeting the victims’ families and eyewitnesses,” BJP national vice-president and MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said.
The committee would submit its report to party national president Amit Shah in three to four days, he said.
BJP national secretary and MP Jyoti Dhurve said, “The incident is very serious. The Prime Minister and Shah have taken it very seriously,”
The team accompanied by Pratap Sarangi,
Golak Nayak, lekhashri Samantasinghar and Sisir Gamang met the kin of the deceased and injured and eyewitnesses.
Similarly, a Congress delegation led by leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly Narasingha Mishra also met kin of the deceased and villagers on Friday. They too held discussions with the Southern Range IG Amitabh Thakur and SP Pinak Mishra on the incident.
“The issues relating to Kandhamal incident will be discussed in the next Assembly session on a priority basis. We will seek everybody’s help for an overall development of Kandhamal. Socioeconomic development, eradication of poverty and, above all, weeding out Maoists from the district will be discussed,” Mishra said at a Press meet at Phulbani.
Opposition Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati and many other party MlAs including Chiranjib Biswal and Naba Das visited the site.