Sonbhadra clash: UP CM alleges members of co-operative society had Cong links

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday alleged several members of the co-operative society, which was the "root cause" of the land dispute that led to the Sonbhadra massacre, had links with the Congress.

He was speaking about the findings of a committee formed after 10 Gond tribals were killed on July 17 in a clash following a tussle over control of land allegedly grabbed by the Adarsh Co-operative Society Umbha/Saphi.

"The probe committee found that on October 10, 1952, Adarsh Co-operative Society Umbha/Saphi was formed. It had 12 members, including the founder (mukhya pravartak) Maheshwar Prasad Narayan Singh and manager Durga Prasad Rai," Adityanath said.

"Maheshwar Prasad Narayan Singh was a Congress Rajya Sabha MP and MLC from Bihar. He was the uncle of former UP governor Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh," he added.

The chief minister also did not spare the Samajwadi Party, claiming that the main accused in the July 17 incident was a close aide of former SP MLA Ranesh Chandra Dubey.

"The main accused person of the July 17 incident Yagyadutt was a close aide of former SP MLA Ranesh Chandra Dubey and had campaigned for the party in the assembly elections. The brother of the village pradhan used to get contracts for road construction," the chief minister alleged.

In 1989, the land was transferred in the names of individual society members, he said.

After going through the records, the probe team has found that the tehsildar of Robertsganj in 1955 passed an order for registering 1305 bighas of land, belonging to the gram sabha, in the name of the society.

"The order of the tehsildar was incorrect and beyond his jurisdiction," Adityanath said, adding that "the society was the root cause of the Sonbhadra massacre."