Sonbhadra killing: UP government shunts DM, SP

LUCKNOW: A day after the three-member committee submitted its damning probe report on the July 17 Sonbhadra massacre indicting police of inaction despite desperate calls from under-attack Gond tribals and having prior information on the flare-up, the UP government shunted out district magistrate and superintendent of police, Sonbhadra. Also, police overstepped their brief while acting against tribals, the report said.Ten tribals died and 29 were injured in the attack.
While ordering action against 12 other government officials, the chief minister said FIRs would be registered against several police and administration officials for alleged irregularities and society members who controlled the land in Umbha would be charged with land grabbing.

Addressing a press conference at his residence, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the disputed land in Umbha and Saphi villages will be transferred and registered in the name of gram sabha and announced setting up a Special Investigation team (SIT) to probe how land was annexed by influential people since 1959. The SIT will submit the report within three months.
The CM said departmental proceedings have been initiated against Sonbhadra district magistrate Ankit Kumar Agrawal and superintendent of police Salman Taj Patil for "one-sided decision" against villagers. "Whosoever is still alive, government officer or citizens, found involved in land grab would face criminal case," he said. The chief minister also ordered lodging of criminal cases against two women - Asha Mishra, wife of former IAS officer Prabhat Kumar Mishra and Vineeta Sharma, wife of a retired IAS officer Bhanu Pratap Sharma - for getting the society land registered in their names in a fraudulent manner in 1989.
Land grab triggered by Congress and SP: Yogi Adityanath
The Sonbhadra massacre in July may have happened in the current BJP regime, but the state government shifted the blame on Congress and Samajwadi Party, stating the controversial society that controlled disputed land since decades was formed by a Congress leader, Maheshwar Prasad Narain, brother of former UP governor C P N Singh. Also, the prime accused and village pradhan Yagyadutt, is an aide of former SP MLA Ramesh Chand Dubey, said the CM.
At ground zero Sonbhadra, the bone of contention was 1,000 acre of gram sabha land that was taken over in 1952 by Adarsh Cooperative Society. On Sunday, the chief minister said all those associated with the society, who are still alive, would face criminal cases. By late Sunday, 12 members were booked. The three-member probe committee that submitted its report on Saturday detected large-scale land grabbing by members of the society in Sonbhadra in connivance with tehsil officials. The society fraudulently registered nearly 1000 acres of gram sabha land in its name, the report said.
While shunting out the DM and SP, the chief minister also announced lodging of FIRs against officers posted in the district since 1989. Yogi alleged powerful leaders of the Congress had been involved in land grabbing by forming societies.
The new SIT would investigate into land grabbing cases over last 70 years to ascertain how one lakh acres of land abundant with forest and mines is in illegal possession of societies, mostly owned by Congress leaders.
Ten villagers were shot and 29 others injured in a bloody faceoff between warring villagers in the tribaldominated bordering district of Sonbhadra, triggering a nationwide outrage.