ENCOUNTER DEATHS OR COLD-BLOODED MURDER?

Gadchiroli: Gundurwahi is a village of 250-300 people in Bhamragarh taluka. It is around 240 kms from Gadchiroli town. The residents here unambiguously narrated to TOI their version of the alleged encounter death of Maoists Ramko Narote, a divisional committee member, and Shilpa Dhurva. They insist that both were in plain clothes and carrying vegetables in two bags on April 27 when Gadchiroli police announced their encounter deaths.
Velaru Podari, an eyewitness, was taken into custody on that day while crossing the forest where the drama was under way. He shared how police had fired in the air repeatedly to create an impression of an encounter. Podari was returning to Gundurwahi after fishing in Parlakota river when intercepted by the cops.
“A group of commandos was firing in the air in the forest while another group had taken Ramko and Shilpa a little away. Later, I got scared on learning that both had been killed,” said Podari while talking to TOI. He was later allowed to return to the village.
The villagers claimed to have seen Ramko and Shilpa leaving the village riding triple seat on Vishnu Doke Lekami’s motorcycle shortly before being declared killed in the encounter. Till date, Lekami’s wife Chhaya, an accredited social health activist (ASHA), has no clue about her husband’s whereabouts.
Worrying about their eight-month-old daughter’s future, Chhaya said that she was informed through someone from the Koti police station that her husband was in jail. “But I have no clue for what and where he is lodged,” she said, adding that Vishnu was a carpenter and occasionally helped her too. Sources said there is no record of Vishnu’s arrest or being named in any case on that day.
As reported by TOI earlier, Gadchiroli SP Shailesh Balkawade had refuted allegations of ‘extrajudicial’ killings by C-60 commandos.
The Gundurwahi villagers were also miffed that the tehsildar of Bhamragarh, who has been asked by district collector Shekhar Singh to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the encounter as is the practice, did not want them to share facts. “He wants the villagers to say that they had not seen or heard anything. But we ensured that no one shared any fabricated version,” said a villager.
The villagers took the tehsildar to the place where Ramko and Shilpa were caught and thrashed. “We also showed him the broken and blood-smeared branches of trees which were used to beat the two women. Blood stains are still visible at the spot where they were shot,” the villager added.
The villagers ushered TOI to the same spots. They pointed out where the two Maoists were killed. Blood stains are still visible. The broken thorny branches with which the slain women were allegedly tortured lie a few metres away. Empty bullet cases could be seen at different spots in the forest.
Singh had told the tehsildar to wrap up the Gundurwahi inquiry quickly. The inquiry into the Kasnasur encounter in which 40 Maoists were killed last year April is still not completed. “Both will be done by end of June,” the collector had told TOI.
Chhaya told TOI that her husband Vishnu was heading to Koparshi and Phulnar villages on his bike for conducting a health survey. “I heard that Ramko and Shilpa were riding pillion on his bike. The two women had apparently requested my husband for a lift. I found the bike abandoned outside the village with vegetables strewn all over the place and had to drag it back home,” she said.
TOI also learns that Chhaya’s father Lacchu Zhuru Mattami, a resident of Poyar Koti village which is around a couple of kilometres away from Gundurwahi, was returning on his tractor when he met Vishnu in a distraught state. Gundurwahi villagers told TOI that Vishnu informed his father-in-law about the police having nabbed Ramko and Shilpa.
“Mattami then turned towards Gundurwahi and told Chhaya and others about what had happened. When we went to the spot, Vishnu was not to be found,” said a villager.
TOI also met Zhuri Mattami on the outskirts of the village where Ramko and Shilpa were seated for an hour before hitchhiking with Vishnu. “They were in front of my house for an hour. Both had a bag each with vegetables,” she said pointing to the place where the slain Maoists were seated.
Shortly after Ramko and Shilpa’s death, Gadchiroli had turned into a hotbed of violence with back-to-back major Maoist attacks and assaults. It began on the morning of May 1 when Maoists torched 27 vehicles and two camp site offices of a road construction company in Dadapur village.
Later on the same day, Maoists triggered a blast at Lendhari nullah near Jambulkheda village killing 15 Quick Response Team (QRT) jawans and one civilian driver. Two other civilians were labelled police informers and killed. Ramko’s husband Bhaskar Hichhami is likely to be the mastermind of the attack.
The Maoists called for a bandh on May 9. Another round of violence, arson and other incidents took place as the Maoists claimed through posters and banners that Ramko and Shilpa were tortured and shot dead by C-60 commandos.