Odisha village tense after woman found beheaded: Adivasi mob torches 150 homes of Bangladeshi settlers; internet snapped, forces deployed

KORAPUT/BHUBANESWAR: An armed Adivasi mob torched an entire village of Bangladesh-origin settlers in Odisha’s Malkangiri and assaulted the residents early on Monday over a missing woman from their community being found beheaded. The administration has issued prohibitory orders and suspended internet services for 24 hours from 6pm as additional forces fanned out into the district to pre-empt a potential backlash.





Officials said the mob burned down around 150 houses on suspicion that some residents of the MV-26 settlement murdered Lake Padiami (51), a resident of the nearby Rakhalguda village, over a land dispute. Her decapitated body had been found on the banks of the Dudametta river on Dec 4, a day after she was reported missing.

SP Vinod Patil announced that two murder suspects had been detained for interrogation. “We appeal for calm. Adequate steps are being taken to ensure harmony,” he said.

Amid the unrest, DGP Y B Khurania visited the area with other officers to draw up a strategy to prevent Maoists from exploiting the situation.

The mob violence resonated in the assembly, with BJD MLA Pratap Keshari Deb accusing BJP govt of failing to resolve what he said was a long-standing dispute between the two villages. “The arson exposes the state of law and order. Maoists could exploit the turmoil,” he said.

BJP MLA Tankadhar Tripathy retorted that unlike the erstwhile BJD administration, the Mohan Charan Majhi govt “acted promptly”.

Collector Somesh Upadhaya told TOI that a peace committee meeting involving representatives of both communities was scheduled for 10.30am on Tuesday.

Over two lakh Bengalispeaking families who migrated from Bangladesh till the 1970s and acquired Indian citizenship live in 214 villages across Malkangiri district. Anticipating the Adivasi attack, nearly 1,000 residents deserted the MV-26 settlement overnight, sources said.







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