UP govt will carry out unbiased probe and punish culprits: Arjun Munda on Sonbhadra incident

Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda on Saturday expressed confidence that the Uttar Pradesh government will carry out "unbiased investigation" in the Sonbhadra firing incident and urged political parties to not politicise the incident.

"The incident is unfortunate. As per the information I have received, the state government is taking action. I think state government will conduct an unbiased investigation and culprits will be punished," Munda told ANI here.

The Sonbhadra firing incident took place, earlier this week, in Ubbha village of Ghorawal where the village head went to take possession of his land purchased two years ago. However, he met with opposition from villagers, which triggered the firing allegedly by his aides leading to the deaths of 10 persons.

Munda added that it is a very serious issue since the members of the tribal community had been affected in the incident and asked political parties to stop politicizing the issue.

"I believe that they shouldn't politicize the issue, instead they should make sure that the offenders are penalized. It is a very serious issue if Adivasi community has suffered from this," he said.

About the action being taken in the matter by his Ministry, Munda said, "Our department is also working on it and we will proceed further after the report."

"I don't have to trace other statements but we should express condolence for the people affected in the incident," he said.