Khurda: Protesting the torture of tribals by the Manavbad Sangathan headed by lawyer Manas Das in Khurda district, representatives of 11 tribal organisations on Tuesday met the district SP and demanded his immediate arrest.
Speaking to mediapersons, the tribal representatives said on the plea of doing humanitarian works, the members of the Manavbad Sangathan were torturing the tribals and dalits on the instruction of Manas Das.
Alleging that the Sangathan members had murdered a tribal after he refused to join the Sangathan, they said it has been forcibly collecting money from the tribals. The tribals demanded immediate arrest of Das and cancellation of his bar licence.
Khurda SP said police had arrested seven persons in connection with the murder of Satyabrata Nayak on August 2. Of them, six persons, who had brutally thrashed Maguni Nayak and his son Anand Nayak of Kadaba village, are now in the jail.
He said the police will appeal to the court to allow them to bring the six accused on remand for interrogation. Besides, police will conduct their polygraph test, he added.
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Refuting the allegations against him, Manas Das said lodging complaints against him is irrelevant. “There is court, law, police and investigation. I don’t bother about who has told what against me. There must be tangible evidence to prove my complicity,” he said.
Das also went to the extent of telling the mediapersons that they cannot understand the interpretation of the law as they do not have a Degree in Law.
Asked about the functioning of his Sangathan, Das said his organisation has its network not only Odisha but also other states.
Meanwhile, a team of police led by the Khurda SDPO Sushil Mishra and the IIC of Sadar Police Station visited Adivasi Sahi of Dalatola village on the day and met its six families who were staying in a forest after being allegedly banished from the village by the Sangathan in 2014.
