Bhubaneswar, Dec 11 (IANS) Following directions of BJD President Naveen Patnaik, the party on Thursday formed a seven-member fact-finding team to assess the current situation in Malkangiri district, where large-scale violence was reported after the body of a 51-year-old tribal woman was found.

The team comprises Manas Madkami (to coordinate), Manohar Randhari, MLA, Ramesh Majhi, ex-Minister, Pradeep Majhi, ex-MP, Rabi Nanda, ex-Minister, Ishwar Panigrahi, and Laxmipriya Nayak, MLA Candidate, Chitrakonda. The team has been entrusted with the responsibility of visiting the affected areas, assessing the ground situation, and submitting a detailed report to the Party President.

“The Biju Janata Dal expresses its deep concern over the reported incidents of violence and urges the administration to take immediate steps to restore peace, ensure the safety of the affected families, and bring the perpetrators to justice,” the party informed in a press statement.

According to reports, the murder of a tribal widow, Lake Padiami, reportedly due to some land-related dispute and the subsequent recovery of her headless body floating in a local river after four days, has triggered widespread violence by the tribals of the Rakhalguda and adjoining villages of the Malkangiri district on Sunday and Monday.

The protesting villagers set more than 50 houses on fire and ransacked over 160 houses of villagers of MV-26 village.

Hundreds of Bengali-speaking families, who migrated from Bangladesh decades ago, residing at the MV-26 village, have fled their homes and taken shelter in nearby villages to escape the violence.

Keeping in view the tense situation, several platoons of the Central Armed Police Force and the Odisha Police Force have been deployed to avoid further escalation.

The district administration has convened meetings of both communities to discuss the situation and restore normalcy in the area.

–IANS

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