ROURKELA: Thousands of tribals, mostly women, from across Sundargarh staged a protest in front of the office of district collector Parag Harshad Gavali on Friday demanding a CBI probe into the mystery death of lady assistant collector Sushmita Minz (35).
The agitators under the banner of Sundargarh Zilla Adivasi Manch, Adivasi Mulbasi Bachao Manch, Anchalik Suraksha Manch and Sundargarh Forum for Gram Sabha, laid siege to the collector’s office for around eight hours. Sundargarh’s BJP MLA Kusum Tete and Rajgangpur MLA of Congress CS Rajen Ekka also joined the protest.
In a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, they described the tribal officer’s death as a ‘pre-planned murder’ and sought a CBI probe under the supervision of a retired judge of either the Supreme Court or high court. When collector Gavali refused to come out to accept the memorandum, the irate tribal women threw glass bangles before his office chamber as a mark of protest.
The agitators further alleged that following the mysterious death of Sushmita on September 19, a tribal outfit had staged a protest before the Rourkela ADM’s office, where the assistant collector was posted, on September 26. However, it yielded no result.
The protesters claimed that the tribal assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Uditnagar police station Alice Narmi Lugun (37) also died suspiciously on October 1. The ASI was on security duty of assistant collector Sushmita and both were seen going to the Rourkela Municipal Corporation office on September 18.
In his complaint, the assistant collector’s brother Sandip Minz had alleged that his sister was subjected to mental torture at her workplace and she was murdered. He also sought an investigation against the Sundargarh collector, Rourkela ADM, Gurundia BDO and CDPO.On Thursday, the state BJP Mahila Morcha had enforced a bandh in Sundargarh district seeking a CBI probe into the deaths of Sushmita and the ASI.