The Plan to Kill Majhi was hatched at the residence of Amrit Adhikari in Bharsundi DNK village under Gona GP.
Nabarangpur:
The investigators are still groping in the dark over the sensational murder of Umerkote MLA Jagabandhu Majhi even as no Maoist outfit has owned responsibility of the killing even after five days.
While the police did not rule out the involvement of Maoists in the MLA’s killing, locals and eyewitnesses have different view on the case.
A close aid of the MLA Subash Gond has revealed that a youth in the mid twenties came close to stage from behind, where MLA was sitting with Sukdev Gand, Topiram Nayak, Upendra Gand, Revenue Inspector of Gona, Narayan Barik, supervisor M Besra, and BJD worker Chittranjan Gand, in the first and second line and in the third line Subash Gond, along with the others chaired at the stage, behind the third line PSO PK Patro stood. There were two assailants altogether in their mid twenties came close to the stage from behind and one of them was wearing a black pant and brown check T- shirt shot from the back side of the PSO from point blank range.
The third one who was in the mid -thirties was waiting on a motor cycle in the approach road close to the stage. After killing the PSO, the attackers shouted slogans in MLA’s name and they shot him from the rear. Subash Gond, resisted one of the gunman but another who is standing there fired at him but the bullet did not him while another local Ramdas Gond sustained critical bullet injuries. After with the revolver of PSO the miscreants shot another round at the PSO and MLA. Then they fired some blanks and shouting slogans fled towards Chhattisgarh border.
The assailants tried to give a Maoist color to the incident considering the proximity of the area to Chattisgarh border” Gond who was also driving car when Jagabandhu Majhi was attacked in 2004 at the marriage function at Raighar, further revealed that an FIR had been lodged with the Raighar Police station on August 2, 2011 regarding a conspiracy to wipe out Majhi as he was a hindrance to some land encroachers and politicians in the area.
“We had called the Inspector –in-Charge of Raighar police station to the Raighar block office and handed over the FIR in which the name of Amrit Adhikary and former MLA Dharmu Gond were mentioned as the main conspirators,” he said.
According to him the plan was hatched at the residence of Amrit Adhikary in Bharsundi DNK village under Gona gram panchayat and around 15 people gathered there to discuss the plan to kill MLA by hiring a contract killer. In that meeting Amrit Adhikary also disclosed that former MLA Dharmu Gond would give Rs 5 lakh for the contract killer and the rest Rs.10 lakh would be collected from others.
When asked how they came to know about this conspiracy, he said that “one villager who attended that meeting informed the MLA about the killing plan and pleaded for not disclosing his name as his life was in danger.” However, the district police on Thursday denied any such information received by the Raighar police station.
Ex-MLA Gond has also denied any such involvement and said that he has no knowledge about such allegations.
His fight against land grabbers and his popularity among tribals have made many envious and they wanted to eliminate him forever, claimed Subash Gond.
The saint BJD MLA of Umerkote Jagabandhu Majhi, who is alleged shot dead by Naxals while distributing pattas to the tribals at Gona village near Raighar was the most prominent tribal leader in the area. Even after his demise, he is still remembered for his advocacy of tribal rights. Since his student days he always stood for the cause of the tribal welfare in the district.
He had lunched himself on the political arena in 1998 when he was elected as the president of Pendrani College in Umerkote. Later he formed Dalit Samaj, an organization to fight against land grabbers.
The Bangladeshi settler’s factor is gaining ground behind the murder of the BJD MLA. The rivalry between Jagabandhu Majhi and Bangladeshi is known to the local people of area. As Majhi started his political career focusing on tribal issues and urged tribals to fight against illegal migrants who grabbed their land and exploited them in many ways. He used to travel to the tribal villages on his bicycle to create awareness among the innocent tribals and persuaded them to change their way of living by making themselves well educated and enterprising” remembered Jagannath Nayak, a veterinary worker of Gona village near Raighar who is also a member of Dalit Samaj since its inception.
Upendra Gand, an ex-sarapanch of Haldi GP who was present at the patta distribution function can't believes that murder is a handiwork of Moists. Topiram Nayak Sarpanch of Timanpur, said that whenever Maoists attack anyone, they initially warn that person and put posters against him but as far as I know, Majhi didn’t receive any such warnings from Maoists, he said.
It is known to every one that the Bangladeshi leadership was behind the murderous attacks on Majhi in 2004 and subsequent years. Of late, my brother was resisting the encroachment of the government land by the Banglashi settlers in the Umerkote and Raighar area saying the non-tribals can not encroach the tribal land in the PESA area. This was the reason for the raising conflict between him and the Bangladeshi settlers in the recent past in the area. Majhi was having sharp differences with the some leaders within the BJD here said the sister of Jagabandhu Majhi, Jayanti Mala Majhi.
