On Wednesday, The Hindu and Rajasthan Patrika carried news reports in which eyewitnesses accused Chhattisgarh’s Koya commandos (an armed tribal police corps) and the Central Reserve Police Force of burning over 300 homes and granaries, sexually assaulting women and executing three men in the villages of Timapuram, Morpalli and Tarmetla between March 11 and March 16.
“We have set up a five-member panel comprising Suresh Mahapatra, editor of local newspaper Bastar Impact, Ratnabala Mohanty, a lecturer at Dantewada Post Graduate College, and Head of a local NGO Pragati Prayas Narendra, along with the Tehsildar and Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Knota block to inquire into the incident,” said Mr. Prasanna over the telephone.
Mr. Prasanna said the panel was asked to report its findings in the next fortnight and compensation to violence-affected families would be paid by this month-end. The administration was sending rice, pulses, edible oil, clothes and fuel to Tarmetla village.
In a telephone conversation, Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwa Ranjan ruled out instituting a parallel police inquiry into the incident.