Orissa rights panel seeks report on shoot-out deaths

BHUBANESWAR - The Orissa state human rights panel Monday sought a report from the police chief of Bargarh district on the deaths of two people in alleged staged shoot-out last week.

State Human Rights Commission chairman Justice R.K. Patra said the commission has taken, on its own, cognisance of media reports on the matter and asked the superintendent of police to submit a preliminary report to the commission within two weeks time.

“We will take appropriate decision after that,” he told reporters.

Madhav Singh Thakur and Ramesh Sahu were killed Dec 26 at the Gandhamardan Hill range in Bargarh, about 500 km from here. Police claimed the two were Maoists and were killed during a gunfight, but Gandhamardan Suraksha Yuva Parishad (GSYP), a local organisation, and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refuted the claim and said both were their members.

GSYP also Monday observed a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in parts of the district seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in the killings.

Normal life was severely affected in villages and towns under Jharbandh, Padampur and Paikmal block with shops shut and commercial vehicles off the roads during the agitation. Private and commercial establishments were also found closed in the region due to the strike, which was supported by opposition parties, including the BJP and the Congress.