Chhattisgarh orders probe into Bastar encounters

Raipur, May 5 (UNI) Amid a raging controversy over fake encounters in Gujarat, the Chhattisgarh Government has ordered a probe into reports that seven tribals were allegedly killed in an ''encounter'' in Santoshpur village in Naxalite-infested Bijapur in the tribal Bastar region.

''Director General of Police Om Prakash Rathor has directed Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) and Bijapur Superintendent of Police to investigate into the matter and register cases, if anyone is found guilty,'' official sources told UNI.

''If need be, the investigating team will take steps to exhume the bodies to conduct post-mortems,'' official sources said.

Residents of Ponjer village have alleged a group of tribals were picked up by members of the Chattisgarh Armed Police and activists of Salwa Judum -- the ongoing anti-Naxalite movement in Bastar -- and taken to nearby Santoshpur, and were subsequently killed.

Though the incident reportedly took place on March 31, it went unnoticed in local media, as it took place in the remote village of Bijapur and the police repeatedly maintained that there was an encounter.

As pressure mounted on the police as local tribals came out in the open in the media, alleging that five Ponjer villagers -- Madiyam Fagu, Madiyam Lakhma, Kudiyan Musa, Markam Sanko and Marvi Mangu -- were killed after they were picked up by the police. While the police claimed that these were members of the Sangam-- the grassroots level sympathisers of the Communist Party of India (Maoists)-- the villages claimed that the villagers had no contact with anyone remotely concerned with Naxalites.

They also alleged that these tribals were picked up while they were collecting 'mahua', a local flower.

Meanwhile reports from Bijapur said the scared locals have fled Ponjer village following the incident.

UNI