A group of individuals from a nearby village in the district allegedly beaten up and looted around 40 tribal families living in a forest near the Kalahandi-Nabarangpur district border.
The tribal people said that the attackers poisoned an open well that they had been utilising for drinking water. For the past 15 years, 40 tribal families have lived in the Bhatapani and Dumerpali. It is regions of the Sahajakhol forest on the Nabarangpur-Kalahandi boundary.
They have also been cultivating forest area for the purpose of agriculture. Some members of Gotamunda village’s had been protesting their habitation and farming on forest land. The tribals, on the other hand, had paid no attention to the Jungle Surakhya Bahini’s opposition.
Several times, there have been quarrels, fights between tribals and members of Jungle Surakhya Bahini. Hundreds of people from Gotamunda barged into the tribal village on June 30 and ransacked their huts. The group assaulted them, and grabbed their jewels, turning the fight into a murder. They are also accused of poisoning a village open well.
“Last year, some 30-40 people came to the community during the farming season and threatened to expel us. They came again this time and forcibly removed us from the village. Where should we go if we’re leaving our farmland, which we’ve been cultivating for the past 20 years?” a local questioned.
The tribals filed a complaint with the police, an atrocity case was filed as a result.
The victims’ families, on the other hand, have found shelter behind a polythene sheet on the grounds of Kuamba primary school in Nabarangpur’s Chandahandi block.
