CPI (Marxist) leader Sanjay Parate, who has been booked along with two professors and Maoists, in the murder case of a tribal villager in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, has accused the police of falsely implicating him and others in the case.
Parate, who is the Chhattisgarh Secretary of CPI(M), also alleged that the ruling BJP was politically harassing activists, leaders and journalists who have raised the issue of the plight of tribals in Bastar.
"Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) S R P Kalluri has been acting as a dictator in Bastar," he alleged.
"He is trying to suppress all those voices which have raised the woes of tribals in Bastar and we have been falsely implicated for the same reason," Parate told PTI.
An FIR was lodged against Delhi University Professor Nandini Sundar, Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor Archana Prasad, Vineet Tiwari from Joshi Adhikari Institute of Social Studies, Parateand others along with Maoists, for the murder of Shamnath Baghel based on the complaint of his wife on Saturday.
Armed Naxals had allegedly killed Baghel with sharp weapons on late Friday night (November 4) at his house in Nama village under Tongpal police station area of Sukma.
As per the complaint lodged by the victim's wife, her husband had been getting threats from Maoists since he and other villagers had complained against Sundar and others after their visit to the village in May this year.
"We(Sundar, Prasad, Tiwari and Parate) visitedvillages ofBijapur, Sukma, Bastar and Kanker districts in May this year. The focus of the visit was the condition of ordinary villagers who are living throughthe conflict between the state and Maoists," Parate said.
Following the visit, the team had released a study report noting the alleged failure of government schemes in the remote villages and no employment generation as required under the MNREGA there, he added.
"During our visit to Nama village, we came to know that villagers had asked the police several times for security (fearing Maoists). When they did not receive any response from police, they themselves resolved to keep the Maoists out and were patrolling the villages with bows, arrows and axes," he said.
"When we raised the issue that the villagers should be given police protection instead of being pushed into a war- like situation, there were charges that we were supporting Maoists," he said.
As soon as they left Bastar on May 17, a fabricated
complaint was filed in the name of villagers from Kumakoleng and Nama, alleging that the study team had gone to these villages and threatened the locals that if they did not cooperate with the Maoists then their villages would be burnt and killed, he claimed.
"Now, when Baghel was killed, the police instead of catching the culprits, implicated the members of study team on false charges for the incident," the CPI(M) leader alleged.
Parate further said he was ready to fight both political as well legal battles as the case was "fabricated".
Meanwhile, opposition Congress has come out in support of the activists, saying the charges against the social activists appear to be "false".
"The charges appear to be false. It could have been verified (before lodging the case against activists)," the Congress Legislature Party leader T S Singhdeo said.
