Journalist killed while clicking photographs of Maoist posters, banners in Odisha
By Prafulla Sahu
Narla (Kalahandi), Feb. 5: A journalist in Odisha’s Maoist infested Kalahandi district was on Saturday killed in an landmine explosion as he went to cover the news about the rebels warning to locals to boycott the forthcoming rural polls in the state.
The incident occurred near Karlakhunta Bridge in Mohangiri area under Madanpur Ramur police station limits of the district in the morning hours. According to local police, the deceased scribe Rohit Kumar Biswal, a resident of Madanpur-Rampur area who worked as a reporter for a local Odia daily, met with his doom as he inadvertently stepped into a pit in which the rebels had planted the explosive device.
As per reports, Biswal was tipped off about some posters surfacing near Karlakhunta Bridge warning locals to boycott the ensuing Panchayat polls.
He rushed to the spot to check the veracity of the information. Sources said when Biswal started to take pictures of the posters he was blown away by a high-intensity blast. He died on the spot.
“It is suspected that the explosives, presumably land mines, were planted near the bridge and Biswal accidentally stepped on it,” said a local resident.
The Kalahandi district police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) rushed to the spot upon receiving the information and started an investigation.
A bomb squad has also been summoned to check if more explosives have been planted at the spot. Till the last reports came in, Biswal’s body was still to be recovered from the spot.
Several Maoist posters and banners have surfaced in Kalahandi district asking people not to cast their ballots in the forthcoming rural polls to register their protest against ‘state-sponsored’ oppression on the poor and tribals. They have also demanded that the local people who have been arrested on fake charges.
————
Photograph: Maoist poster. (Inset) Slain journalist Rohit Biswal
