Rayagada: The dawn-to-dusk bandh called by District Adivasi Mahasangha, a tribal outfit, supported by the BJP brought traffic to a grinding halt in Odisha’s Rayagada district on Friday.
The 12-hour protest is being held against alleged failure of police to nab those responsible for the death of ‘Maa Gruha’ warden Laxmi Majhi. The outfit has sought a CBI probe into the case. “This is a fight for justice. Police have failed to crack the case even after 2 weeks. The postmortem report has also not been revealed raising suspicious about an alleged cover-up by the state government,” said Zilla Adivasi Mahasangh president, Appalswami Kadraka.
The protesters also alleged that this is not an isolated case and mentioned about death of BJD leader Bhagirathi Mandangi and Purushottam Gamango, the cases in which police continue to grapple in the dark.
The BJP Mahila Morcha, which observed a six-hour bandh in Rayagada last week, had also demanded an investigation by the central agency.
The state Crime Branch is currently assisting Rayagada police in the probe.
Notably, the half-burnt body of 28-year-old Laxmi, a physically-challenged tribal woman, was recovered from the premises of Chandrapur community health centre (CHC), where was working in ‘Maa Gruha’ for last five years, on December 21. Based on her father’s complaint, Chandrapur police registered a case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (disappearance of evidence of offence), the day later. Primary investigation had revealed that Majhi might have been murdered elsewhere and the body later set on fire near Maa Gruha to erase crucial evidence.
