25.9.11

Somewhere in Odisha....



Suspected Maoists shot dead a 39-year-old wheelchairbound Biju Janata Dal legislator and his personal security officer at a public meeting in Orissa’s Nabarangpur district on Saturday, marking a new high for Naxal brutality. The police said Umerkote MLA Jagabandhu Majhi was killed while he was distributing land pattas (record of rights) to the poor at Gona village, close to the Orissa-Chhattisgarh border, around 500km from Bhubaneswar. The security officer has been identified as P K Patro. SP (Nabarangpur) Niti Sekhar said the two were attacked by three assailants on a motorcycle. A civilian was also injured in the incident. The assailants first shot the PSO from behind and then fired at the MLA in presence of around 300 villagers. Both had two bullet wounds each and died on the spot, an eyewitness said. Sekhar said Majhi had never told the police about any threat to his life. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik described the incident as “shocking” and “horrible” and ordered a CID inquiry into it. Majhi faced several criminal cases. He was left wheelchair-bound after unidentified people attacked him in 2004. The tribal leader had suffered debilitating injuries to his body’s lower half in the attack. The slain legislator gained prominence as he led violent tribal movement under the banner of Dalit Samaj against alleged land grab by Bangladeshi settlers in Raighar and other parts of Nabarangpur during the past decade. Majhi was elected to the state assembly from Umerkote for the first time in 2009.

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