MALKANGIRI/UMERKOTE: Moti Kamar is inconsolable. Yet she has to remain calm in front of her five children, four of them minors. It has been four days since their father Dhana Kamar fell to the bullets of Koraput Police during an alleged encounter in Boipariguda forests and the impoverished family is yet to come to terms with the harsh fact that he was a “Maoist.”
Dhana who was working as daily labourer left home on Tuesday night after Narsingh Kalagora and Dangar Kolagara of the Sargiguda village called him to take up a ganja transportation job as a ‘kawadia.’ Moti said she objected as Dhana was suffering from fever. “My husband though expressed his willingness because he needed the money to feed the family. It was supposed to take 5-6 days to carry the ganja to the destination trekking through forest routes. It would have fetched him Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000,” she said.
Next time the family saw him was photos of his dead body with guns and Maoist literature by his side. “My husband was branded a Naxal and the guns and Maoist literature found near his body were planted by Koraput police. All police claims are fabricated,” Moti alleged as she showed the BPL and Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojna cards.
She said it was not possible on her part to look after the kids since Dhana was the only earning member in the family. She demanded the administration pay compensation on humanitarian grounds. On the day, Koraput police administration has handed over Dhana’s body to his family. Meanwhile, Malkangiri police arrested four persons including social worker Sarat Chandra Buruda and detained 17 others on the wee hours of Monday on charges of blocking the National Highway 326 near Kotameta on Sunday in protest of the ‘fake’ encounter killings.
Family members of the other deceased Jaya Kamar Nag too alleged that he has been branded a Maoist after the encounter. Sources said around six months back, Jaya was behind bars in an NDPS case as he was involved in ganja trafficking.
The 34-year-old belonging from Harijan Sahi of Bargaon village within Kosagumuda police limits worked as a daily labourer and was a BPL card holder. “He is survived by an eight-month-old baby and wife who are left to fend for themselves now,” informed the deceased’s brother Suryadan Harijan.
Koraput police on toes after Maoist call for bandh on Nov 18
Jeypore :The CPI (Maoist) Malkangiri-Koraput border division committee leader Rakesh has called for a bandh on November 18 protesting what he called ‘fake encounter killings.’ “It was a fake encounter by police. After killing the duo, police kept the three guns and other incriminating materials near the bodies to brand them as Maoists,” he said in an audio statement. As soon as the audio and press statements of the Maoist group circulated in Koraput and Malkangiri districts, senior police officials of both the districts got together to review the situation. It is believed that Maoist outfits in Chhattisgarh too support the call given by their Odisha counterparts.