Kendrapara: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has asked Kendrapara Superintendent of Police Niti Shekhar, to appear in person February 21 in connection with the murder of RTI activist Ranjan Das.
The commission has also asked the SP to submit the case diary, the latest position of the case, the action taken thereon, including the quantum of relief provided to the next of the kin of the deceased RTI activist.
The NCSC’s direction came after president of the Orissa State SC/ST Youth and Student Council Haladhar Sethy filed a petition before the commission February 1 requesting an investigation into the murder of the RTI activist.
He alleged that Ranjan Das, a Scheduled Caste youth and RTI activist, has been seeking information from the district, tehsil and block administration of Kendrapara through RTI applications to expose the corruption and misappropriation of government funds in various schemes implemented in the district.
As per the written report of late Ranjan, several police cases were pending for investigation against the local anti-socials, contractors and supporters of the ruling party for threatening him.
But the police did not take timely action in those cases. The RTI activist was murdered January 31, 2020 while he was returning to his house under Marshaghai police station in Kendrapara district. The petitioner alleged that since the victim belonged to the SC community, the local police were trying to suppress the case by diluting the theme of issues and reasons of murder of Ranjan.
PNN