Odisha MP launches indefinite fast over missing villagers

Congress MP from Odisha Pradeep Kumar Majhi Friday launched an indefinite hunger strike here demanding information from the state government on five people missing in his constituency.

Majhi, who represents the Nabarangpur constituency in the Lok Sabha, said five people went missing in police custody over the last few years. Four of them were arrested on charges of being Maoist supporters.

"Police did not produce them in the court nor they handed over their bodies to the families if they were dead," Majhi told IANS.

Citing one of the incidents, Majhi said police had taken away Trinath Samrath from his village in April last year in connection with a theft case. The man did not return home. Police did not produce him in a court, he said.

However, Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh refuted the allegations and said only Trinath Samrath has been missing.

Police have filed a missing case and efforts are on to locate him, Singh told IANS.

He said the other four people were dead and a court has already given clean chit to police in the matter.

Pradeep Kumar Majhi launched a mass protest here Wednesday with a 48-hour notice to the government to respond.

"Since the government did not reply, I had no other way but to launch this hunger strike," he told reporters.

He said the families of all the five missing people were also sitting with him at the protest site.