Mail News Service
Saraikela, Dec 10: The case related to the killing of a stray deer and feasting on its meat by villagers of Kandagora took another turn on the fourth day after the news first appeared in the media. The Kandagora villagers held a meeting on Thursday chaired by BJP leader Ganesh Mahali. The villagers protested and alleged that the administration was falsely sensitizing the issue to harass the innocent villagers. Mahali stated, “The administration is trying to accuse innocent villagers by creating a scandal on the false ground that they killed a deer and feasted on its meat.”
According to the villagers who unanimously claimed that no deer had been killed, that on Sunday, December 6, villagers Sadhu Charan Purty and Borjo Purty spotted stray dogs eating the flesh of a dead cow at the religious place. They chased away the dogs and carried the dead cow from the religious place to the garden of Gram Pradhan Pandit Hembram. Later the meat of the cow was cooked and eaten.
Gram Pradhan Pandit Hembram clarified in the meeting that on December 6 he had been away to play football and said that he had proof of it. He said, “When I returned home at 9:30 pm, I learnt about the incident that had taken place in the village. The next day, on Monday, I received a phone call from the Ranger and I perdsonnaly took him to the garden for inspection and verification.”
BJP leader Ganesh Mahali while presiding the village meeting stated, “The administration should not try to implicate the villagers in false accusations. Let the findings of the laboratory where the bits and pieces of meat and bones have been sent come and only then should legal proceedings be implemented.”
The case as it stands: On December 6, villagers noticed a deer that had strayed into the field from the nearby forest range. They captured the deer and brought it to Gram Pradhan Pandit Hembram’s garden where they killed it and distributed the meat before cooking it and organizing a community feast in the late afternoon. The photo of the deer had appeared and went viral on the social media but shortly it was removed. The Saraikela Forest Department and police conducted an investigation and filed a case against the Gram Pradhan and the two villagers Sadhu Charan Purty and Borjo Purty as also 15 others for being involved in the deer incident. The Forest department and the police conducted tracing following which the accused and the 15 others were named in the case.
