BJP constitutes a four-member-MP team to probe into Sambalpur communal violence

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has constituted a committee comprising four Members of Parliament to probe into recent communal violence that had taken place in Odisha’s Sambalpur town.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has constituted a committee comprising four Members of Parliament to probe into recent communal violence that had taken place in Odisha’s Sambalpur town.

The four members Brijlal, Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, Samir Oraon and Aditya Sahoo, Rajya Sabha MPs from Jharkhand and Jyotirmaya Singh Mahato, MP of Purulia from West Bengal have been asked to visit Sambalpur and submit a fact-based report to BJP President J. P. Nadda.

The constitution of a probe team came close on the heels of recent visit of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes member Anant Nayak to Sambalpur to meet the family of the youth killed during the violence.

The communal violence had triggered when miscreants pelted stones at a massive bike rally taken out in the run up to Hanuman Jayanti celebration in the second week of April.

Hanuman Jayanti Samonyoya Samiti (HJSS), under the banner of which the bike rally was taken out, accused that the stone pelting was preplanned as the rally came under attack when it was passing through Muslim dominated colonies of Sambalpur. The stone-pelting left 10 police personnel and scores of bikers injured.

Peeved over attack, the HJSS had called for 36-hour bandh. It was backed by State unit of BJP. The party had also sent an MLA delegation to Sambalpur to take stock of the situation.

During Hanuman Jayanti celebration, shops were set on fire and stones were pelted. One Chitamani Mirdha, a 30-year-old youth of Kisan tribe of Sanasinghari village on the outskirts of Sambalpur town was stabbed to death while he was returning home after taking part in the Hanuman Jayanti procession.