Mother accuses cops of killing son in fake encounter in Bastar

Raipur: The mother of one of the two ‘Maoists’ gunned down by security forces on September 4 in Tadmetla area in Bastar division has said that he was innocent and accused police of burning the bodies in the forest.
On September 5, security personnel said they had gunned down two Maoists in an encounter in Chintagufa region of Tadmetla and identified them as Sodhi Kosa and Rama Deva, militia members of Tadmetla area committee, who were accused of the cold-blooded murders a deputy sarpanch, a teacher and a labourer.
A few days ago, Kosa’s mother Sodhi Nande told a local news channel that the two slain men were her son and his friend, and that they were not Maoists. “The police carried out a fake encounter to kill them and performed the last rites with diesel without informing us,” she told the local journalist.
On September 8, Maoists had also alleged a fake encounter, which the police dismissed. Bastar range IG P Sundarraj had dared the Maoists to reveal the names of the cadres involved in the three murders if these two were innocent. The duo were militia members of Maoists’ Tadmetla area committee, said police.
Villagers say Sodhi Kosa was a farmer and a tailor, while Rava Deva owned a grocery shop in Tadmetla village. On September 11, hundreds of people from 25 villages staged a protest in Tadmetla against the alleged “fake encounter” and demanded an investigation. However, the state police dismissed these claims, saying that it was a common Maoist tactic to mislead villagers.
On Monday, the Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha (CKS), affiliated to All India Kisan Sabha, accused police of killing two tribals in a ‘staged encounter’. CKS state convener Sanjay Parate said that the duo were “innocent villagers”, and accused police of “forcibly burned their bodies in the forest instead of handing them to their families”. He alleged that journalists and civilians were being prevented from visiting the area, and questioned the alleged “silence of the government”.
The CKS demands the arrest of the police officers involved and a compensation of Rs 1 crore each for the victims’ families