In U-turn,cops say ‘Maoist sympathiser’ on Rahul Niyamgiri stage ordinary tribal

“Our men had picked him up on the assumption that he had links with Maoists. But later we found that he was a member of Green Kalahandi (a forum of locals to save Niyamgiri). So we released him,” said Krishna. “This is what we do normally in these areas. There is quite a heavy movement of Maoists in Lanjigarh area.”

But president of Green Kalahandi and advocate Siddharth Nayak,who was an eyewitness to Sikaka being forcibly taken by plainclothes armed men,said there were gaping holes in police version of the event. “In the afternoon on August 9,15 members of Green Kalahandi including me and 10 Dongaria Kondhs were on our way to Lanjigarh when people wearing black masks suddenly stopped our vehicles in Niyamgiri jungle. They were speaking in Telugu and Hindi. They asked us why we were opposing Vedanta project and started beating the driver. They forcibly took our mobiles and vehicle keys. Then they bundled Lado and another tribal,Sana,into one of their Boleros and sped up. We remained mum as we thought they might be Maoists,” said Nayak.

Though Sana returned in an hour,Sikaka did not come back. The worried tribals started walking to the main road and called for help. “Hours later we reached Bhawanipatna (headquarter of Kalahandi) and lodged a complaint at the police station about Maoists possibly abducting him. I called local MP Bhakta Charan Das to inform about Lado’s abduction,” said Nayak,who went alone to Delhi to attend the seminar. Three days later,Lado was released near the block office of Kalyasinghpur under mysterious circumstances.

“If police indeed picked him up from the forest,why were they in plain clothes? It seems police are hand in gloves with company people to browbeat tribals,” alleged Nayak.

However,the Raygada SP said normally the cops moved in plain clothes in daytime. “Our men had actually picked him up on suspicion,” he added.

Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das,who organised Thursday’s rally,said if Lado was a Maoist as police initially alleged,then they should also arrest him as he was the founder of Green Kalahandi. “The police in Orissa are unable to face the Maoists. But they are all eager to flex their muscles on a poor tribal as he is opposing a mining project that will affect his livelihood. This is a cheap attempt of the Orissa Police to defame a poor tribal,” said Das.