CPI demands judicial probe of Singaram killing

     Raipur, January 20, 2009: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India has termed the killing of 17 tribals by police in Singaram as a “fake encounter” and demanded a judicial probe into that incident.

     “In the name of fighting the naxalites, the Police in Chhattisgarh, along with Special Police Officers of the notorious Salwa Judum, have killed 17 tribal villagers, including 6 women, in cold blood on January 8, 2009 in the vicinity of village Gollapalli (Dantewada district) which is on the border of Andhra Pradesh,” a CPI release said.

     “Independent journalists from Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh visited the site and filed their reports.  CPI leader Manish Kunjam, who is also the President of All India Adivasi Mahasabha, has also visited the place and identified those killed and the adjoining villages from where they were picked up by the police and the SPOs, dragged into the jungle and shot dead,” it said.

     “The CPI demands a high level judicial probe into this fake encounter, which is being tomtomed as a justified offensive against the Naxalites. The CPI does not accept any so called administrative inquiry, which is only designed to cover-up this heinous crime,” the CPI said.

     Earlier Yesterday the Congress had handed over a memorandum to the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram during his visit of the state and demanded a CBI probe into the killing of the 17 tribals in Singaram.