Phulbani, July 20: The incident happened on July 8 at the Gumudumaha village has come out to be devastating one. It created goose bumps in every individual’s mind. But today some of them could have been saved if they were taken to the hospitals on time.
The families who lost their members or whose members are critical now because of being attacked during the anti-Maoist operation said that some of the victims might have been alive if they had been shifted to hospitals immediately. The family members of five persons killed reported the above statements to the visiting members of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) and also said that they were restricted from meeting the victims by Odisha police post the incident.
As always, the SIT members reached the spot 10 days after the incident had happened. This seven-member team led by the ADG, Human Rights Cell, Mahendra Pratap enquired the villagers by asking them about the details of the mishap such as how and when they had gone to Baliguda for receiving their MGNREGS dues, the firing occurred at what time and of what kind was it whether it was cross or one-sided and also how and when the injured were shifted for treatment.
The villagers were also interrogated about having any sort of connections with the Maoists and were there any Maoist cadre in the area and were they satisfied with the assistance being provided to them. Five villagers, including three women and a child, were killed during the anti-Maoists operation by Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel at Malapanga forest in Kandhamal district. Henceforth, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed a SIT team of State Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) to probe the incident.
