The Telegraph, October 2, 2008
Raid, arson in villages
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 1: A 200-strong mob comprising tribals attacked 20 houses in Banjamaha village in the Raikia police station area and torched several others in Kandhamal district today.
Similar incidents of arson were also reported from Beheragaon village — where three houses were attacked — in the Tikabali police station area last night and early this morning — a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the attacks as “national shame”.
Kandhamal superintendent of police Praveen Kumar confirmed the incidents.
Roads and market places across the district wore a deserted look as the 24-hour curfew imposed at Phulbani, Raikia, G-Udaygiri, Tikabali, Tumudibandha, Nuagaon, Gochhapada, Phiringia and Baliguda continued.
The curfew was clamped yesterday after a Christian woman was hacked to death at Rudangia. At least 13 people, including three RSS leaders, were arrested after Ramani Nayak was killed.
The minority-populated villages around Rudangia wore a deserted look, as residents fled to nearby forests or relief camps, said Raghab Nayak, a resident of Benala village in Gadaguda panchayat.
According to official figures, 2,836 houses, 54 churches, 84 prayer houses and 28 institutions were damaged in the violence in Kandhamal.
Revenue divisional commissioner (southern division) Satyabrata Sahu, also in charge of Kandhamal, repeated the assurance that the situation was “under control” and no fresh incidents had been reported since yesterday morning.
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