Odisha Police have arrested five persons for allegedly desecrating a sacred place of worship of the Santal community in Basantpur village of Keonjhar district,
The complainants further alleged that the villagers were threatened with the discontinuation of their subsidised rice quota and government allowances if they reported the incident to the police. Rabi Hembrum, one of the villagers, alleged that police had refused to register a separate FIR over the desecration of the Jaher Than and clubbed the matter with the case relating to the assault on villagers. The incident triggered a political controversy, with a BJD delegation led by former minister and the party’s Tribal Cell president Sudam Marndi alleging that people associated with the Bajrang Dal were behind the attack and demanding an independent investigation.
The arrest came 12 days after the alleged incident was reported and almost three weeks after it occurred. The incident occurred on October 23 when members of the Santal community were worshipping at a sacred grove, locally known as Jaher Than, according to the FIR lodged by tribal villagers on October 29. The complaint alleged that around 15 to 20 people, allegedly armed with knives, iron rods and sticks, barged into the place of worship and abused the worshippers.
Anandpur sub-divisional police officer Kamal Lochan Panda said an investigation into the incident was underway. The accused, identified as Chandan Sethy, Dibyajyoti Puhan, Akshay Kumar Sahoo, Suresh Mallick and Srichandan Puhan, were arrested by Ghasipura police on Tuesday.
