Visakhapatnam: Terming the recent encounter in the forest abutting Ramaguda of Andrapalli panchayat in the cut-off area of Malkangiri district in Odisha in which 27 Maoists and four civilians were gunned down was one-sided firing, said activists of Human Rights Forum (HRF) and Ganatantrik Adhikar Suraksha Sanghatan (GASS). They demanded that the government book AP Greyhounds personnel under relevant penal sections of the law including 302 IPC (murder) and the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) and prosecute them.
They also demanded that the criminal investigation in the case must be handed over to either the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is must consist of officers with impeccable credentials and untainted by earlier “encounter” killings.
In a pre-dawn mission, the fact-finding team from HRF and GASS visited the encounter spot and interacted with the tribals of Gusuma-padarand Ramaguda, a small village which is located quite close to the place of killings.
“Contrary to the assertion by senior police officials in both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha that the deaths were due to cross-fire, we believe they were the result of unilateral one-sided firing by the Greyhounds. That the Maoists opened fire first and the Greyhounds were forced to retaliate resulting in the deaths is pure fiction. It is our firm belief that the Maoists were taken totally by surprise and the fatalities, 31 in all at present count, were the result of an attack by the Greyhounds,” said general secretary of HRF in AP and Telangana, V.S. Krishna and president of HRF, S. Jeevan Kumar
The Maoists had set up camp a day before in a fairly dense forest area at the southern tip of the Jantri reserve forest. At about half a km from Ramaguda, the camp was located next to a stream and the hillock raises to the east and north.
To the west is open ground and next to it are the placid waters of the Balimela reservoir. At the break of dawn on October 24, the Greyhounds, opened fire killing 24 at the camp site itself, they alleged.
