Chhattisgarh 'encounter'; No Maoist link yet

VV condemns killing of 8 villagersA Raipur/Hyderabad: Even as the Chhattisgarh government ordered a judicial inquiry into Friday night's encounter between security forces and suspected Naxals near Edasmeta village in Bijapur district, in which eight villagers were killed, civil society demanded the state government to punish the guilty. Alleging that that the encounter was fake, Revolutionary Democratic Front leader Varavara Rao (VV) appealed to the people to reprobate the police action. "There is an urgent necessity of the democratic forces, pro-people organisations and individuals to stand with the people of Dandakaranya who are facing the storm-centre of the second phase of Operation Green Hunt.

We must unequivocally condemn the Edasmeta massacre and force the government to punish the guilty by raising our voices of protest. Not enquiries and compensations but the demand for justice can alone be the true tribute to the martyred villagers of Edasmeta," he said. In a statement, the RDF leader said the dead were identified by the villagers as Joga Karam, Pandu Karam, Chomu Karam, Punem Sonu, Karam Masa � all reported to be between the age of 27 and 30, and three minors Punem Lakhmu (15), Guddu Karam (10) and Punem (12). The whereabouts of 22 other villagers are yet to be traced, and a rise in the number of the dead cannot be ruled out, the statement said. The RDF strongly condemned the "cold-blooded massacre, which is nothing but a part of Operation Green Hunt �a planned assault of the Indian state on the revolutionary masses of central and eastern India". Varavara Rao said Prime minister Manmohan Singh, Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh too cannot abdicate their responsibility for this massacre. He said judicial enquiry headed by justice BK Aggarwal set up the government will too would end up protecting the culprits and their political masters unless the democratic forces of the country force the enquiry to bring out the truth. Alleging that the "ruling classes targeted the Dandakaranya movement, painstakingly built up by the adivasi peasants over the last three decades", Rao said "The people of Dandakaranya have refused to surrender to the Indian rulers. They have defeated the assaults of the ruling classes one after another � be it in the form of Jan Jagaran Abhiyan, Salwa Judum, or the first phase of Operation Green Hunt". Meanwhile, the government has said a commission headed by Justice VK Agrawal, which is already probing the encounter with Maoists at Sarkeguda in Bijpaur district on June 28-29, 2012, will conduct inquiry into this incident too. The government also announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the villagers who were killed. According to police, eight villagers, including three minors, and a personnel of elite Cobra battalion of CRPF were killed in the gun-battle on the intervening night of May 17-18. The Cobra (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion 208 was on a combing operation at the time. Incidentally, it was in the same district that 17 villagers had been killed in an encounter a year ago. While the forces had called it the "biggest Maoist encounter", almost all the dead later turned out to be innocent villagers. Friday's night operation involved 1,000 men from the CRPF and state police, who fanned out in five groups reportedly to bust a training hub of the Maoists. Villagers, however, denied any links with Maoists and claimed that the forces started firing while they had gathered to celebrate the local Beej Pondum festival. This is the same festival which the villagers had been celebrating last year as well when they were fired upon.