Police kill villager on Maoist suspicions, CID to probe
Ranchi: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Jharkhand would probe the killing of an ‘innocent’ villager by police in Khunti district on Friday, state police officials said on Saturday.
“Prima facie, it appears that the person was innocent. With a view to giving proper justice to both the parties, we have handed over the case to CID, which will investigate the matter,” Jharkhand police spokesperson Saket Singh said.
A joint team of Khunti police and CRPF had set out on a search operation on Friday morning in Edelbeda area following their encounter with People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) members on Thursday night at Jilingburu forest of Tapkara.
During the operation, police shot at a 36-year-old man suspecting him as Maoist. The man later died in hospital. He was identified as Roshan Horo, a resident of Koyengsar village. Horo was carrying pack of buffalo skins with him and he was reportedly going to a nearby village for making Nagada, a tribal musical instrument, with the skins.
Khunti superintendent of police (SP) Ashutosh Sekhar said, “The man was on his bike. Police repeatedly asked him to stop but he did not. He left his bike and threw a sack. He tried to flee, avoiding the police call. Police fired bullets at him. Two bullets hit his body and he died.”
Shekhar said 10 kg of animal skins was found in a sack with him. “But no criminal records were found against him. Horo might not have stopped on police call in fear, as he was carrying skins,” he said.
Villagers said Horo was a former preacher of Church of North India (CNI). His younger brother is in Army, while youngest brother is studying. Horo used to do farming with his father and he has three daughters, villagers said.
Horo’s family members said he left home in the morning saying that he was going to Sandi village for making Nagada, tribal musical instrument.
The Khunti SP said a magistrate level probe would be carried out under National Human Rights Commission’s guideline.
Jharkhand police spokesperson said best possible compensation would be provided to the Horo’s family.
Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to raise this issue in Jharkhand assembly. “We will raise our voice in Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha on Monday highlighting how innocent people are being killed in regime of JMM-Congress government. People are not even free enough to walk fearlessly,” said former minister and BJP’s Khunti legislator Neelkanth Singh Munda.