Jharkhand encounter: 6 of 7 identified had no police case

None of the four children killed has been identified so far.

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The families of the dead said they would file a case or go to court over the “cold-blooded murders”.

While Anurag, Santosh and Yogesh were all residents of Majhgawa village in Chatra, Izaz lived in nearby Nima village. Izaz used to work in Madhya Pradesh as a driver till three and a half months ago, when he returned home and took up a job with a local electronic goods shop owner for Rs 3,000 a month.

A contract teacher who worked in Manika in Latehar, Uday had reportedly been facing Maoist threats for the past four years.

Anurag’s elder brother Lakhan Yadav, whose son Yogesh was among those killed, says they had not been in touch with Anurag for some time now. “We made RK surrender in 1995. We had not spoken to him for four years. Yogesh ran a mobile phone shop in Pratappur and had gone with Santosh to an acquaintance’s place. I have no idea how he landed in RK’s company.”

Lakhan, a petty farmer, said his son had paid the price for being Anurag’s nephew.

Santosh’s father-in-law Siteshwar Yadav, who also talks of the family disowning Anurag, said Santosh was happy working as a driver and had no links with Maoists. “I met him on Monday. He left that day saying he would return by the evening,” Siteshwar says.

Is it a crime being Anurag’s relative, he asks. “The way all 12 people were killed shows they were shot from close quarters. How can a vehicle be hit multiple times and there be no blood stains?”

Izaz’s father-in-law Islam Mian, also a small farmer, says Izaz left home on Monday afternoon following a call from his employer. The alleged shootout took place when they were travelling in the employer’s vehicle.

Izaz could hardly have known who were the passengers in his employer’s Mahendra Scorpio were, Islam says.

Uday’s younger brother Hriday claims Uday had been tense lately. Uday worked as a contract teacher at Manika block town, away from their village of Newar, earning Rs 8,000 a month. “He had been facing Maoist threats for four years. He did not tell his wife anything before leaving Manika on Monday evening,” Hriday says.

Amlesh, a resident of Hedu village under Panki police station in Palamau, also had no case against him.

“We have sent a detailed report of the incident to the NHRC. The postmortem report will come in a couple of days,” district SP Mayur Patel said.