A mob in the Simdega district of the Jharkhand burnt alive a former Maoist named Sanju Pradhan on Tuesday (December 4) on the charge of illegally cutting and selling the Sal wood forest trees.
The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon at Besrajara locality under the Kolebira police station of the district. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has directed local police and administration to investigate the matter and take strong legal against the accused.
Pradhan, a native of Chhapridipa, was earlier arrested for his alleged involvement in the Maoist activities. After he was released on bail, Pradhan started the business of selling wood.
Villagers had accused him of illegally cutting Sal woods from the Khutkatti forest land. But the deceased had denied the allegation. In the tribal tradition, Khutkatti forests are those which are owned by the tribal community. Trees on Khutkatti forest land especially the Sal woods are considered very sacred among tribals.
Tribals were angry with Pradhan after the forest department on October 21 last year seized a huge quantity of timber around 120 CFT from his possession. A case 151/2021 was also lodged against him.
On Tuesday afternoon, villagers held a meeting at Babalkera panchayat office. Around 200 villagers dragged Pradhan away from his residence and started beating him in front of his family members and others. The mob later on collected wooden logs from his house and set him on fire.
Villagers prevented the police from entering the village. Later on, Simdega SP Shams Tabrez, SDPO Devid A Dodrai, the officer in charge of police stations of Bano, Thethaitangar, and Kolebira came to the village. Police seized the half-burnt body of the deceased and sent it for post-mortem.
So far, no arresting has been made, but the police booked the village head Subham Budho and 12 others as the named accused whereas 200 unknown persons also have been booked for riot and murder. Police have recorded statements of the wife of the deceased Sapna Devi and his mother Jasmait Devi who are the eyewitnesses of this case.
“Raids are being carried to arrest accused persons and police deployment has been made. This is a heinous crime and the accused persons took the law in their hand. Villagers did not approach police if they had any complaint against the deceased,” said Simdega SP.
Deceased Pradhan was earlier associated with the banned Naxal outfit PLFI and he was booked and charge-sheeted by police in three Naxal cases. But after being released on bail some years back he was away from Naxal activities.
