'If I am killed': Odisha sarpanch posts YouTube video

“Malkangiri (Orissa) SP Anirudh (Kumar) Singh is responsible, if I go missing, or I die in an encounter, or if there is any attack on my family or children,’’ declares Jairam Khora, sarpanch of Badapadar panchayat in Malkangiri area. Khora is currently on the run because the Chhattisgarh police want him to be a witness in a Naxal-related case. He has, therefore, posted his video testimony on YouTube to ensure that at least his death, unlike many others, does not go without anyone being held accountable. Watch the video testimony below: Says this first-generation educated tribal: “The Malkangiri SP, who calls me a Naxal suspect, has threatened twice to eliminate me. I am a democratically-appointed sarpanch. I go with my problems to the block and DM’s (district magistrate’s) offices. Do Naxals sit in these offices? In the recent Essar payoff case, Anirudh Singh handed me over to the Chhattisgarh Police, who kept and tortured me for eight days to give a statement that I went along with Essar contractor BK Lala to pay Rs 15 lakh as protection’ money to a Maoist operative on 9 September.’’ The police have arrested alleged Maoist operative Linga Kodopi, his aunt Soni Sori, who is a government school teacher and was apprehended in Delhi, and BK Lala. Khora, the police say, is the key witness in the case. Khora says he was forced to be a witness, as he never went with Lala on 9 September. He refuses to be a witness in this case. Interestingly, Khora seems to suggest in his video testimony that Essar does indeed pay ‘protection’ money to Maoists. “On 7 September I had accompanied one deputy manager of Essar, Srinivasan, to a village. He wanted me to take him to a nearby village and I agreed to take him there. In that village, he talked to some people in Telugu, which I didn’t understand. But I later found that Srinivasan had offered them (Maoists) Rs 10 lakh, but they refused to take money and asked him to close the Essar plant in their area,’’ says Khora. “But I did not go with Lala to (meet) Maoist operatives,” asserts Khora. Khora’s fears are unlikely to be fake since neutrals are often targeted both by the police and the Maoists. While the police try and secure confessions and testimony by unfair means, the Maoists use threats to get local leaders to toe their line. [caption id=“attachment_111320” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Khora is currently on the run because the Chhattisgarh police want him to be a witness in a Naxal-related case. Screen grab from youtube”]  [/caption] Three years ago, Chimtapali sarpanch Indra Madhi of Malkangiri area went missing. People had heard that the police had picked him up before he went missing. His body has not been found to date. A sarpanch of Thitalbeda gram panchyat, Hari Bandhu Hansal, is also on the run. He was implicated in seven criminal cases and put in jail for 11 months in 2010. He came out ‘clean’ in five cases and the state high court gave him bail in two other cases. He came out of jail in April 2011and the Malkangiri police have raided his house thrice since then. Hansal, who fears for life, is also on the run now. When contacted, Malkangiri SP Anirudh Kumar Singh rubbished Khora’s claims to Firstpost: “I haven’t threatened him. I wanted to settle his case and I didn’t even arrest him. The Chhattisgarh police were looking for him and thus we handed him over to the Chhattisgarh police.” Singh was unaware that Khora has given a video testimony and held him responsible in case he is killed. Dantewada SP Ankit Garg also denies that he had tortured Khora and kept him in eight-day custody. “We had interrogated him and had taken a statement. And then Khora gave a statement under section 164 before a magistrate,’’ Garg says. Statements given before a magistrate are admissible as evidence. Khora says the evidence was the result of torture. “Dantewada police tied my feet and put a stick between my legs. Then they hung me upside down and hit me on my sole. I gave in to the police torture. I signed the statement and I gave a statement in the court at the police instance,’’ he says. The police had picked up Khora on 14 September and released him on 21 September. His family, which made several complaints with the police and higher authorities with the help of human rights activists, swears to this fact. Khora has not gone back home since 21 September. He is in Koraput (Orissa) these days living with a human rights activist and a local journalist. This journalist was part of the fact-finding team, which looked into the disappearance of Indra Madhi, who is feared to have been killed. He is now making an attempt to save Khora by setting up a direct meeting with the Odisha Chief Minister or the Chief Secretary in a day or two.