New Delhi:
Maoist sympathisers have strongly condemned the brutal murder of Niyamat Ansari, a National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme (NREGS) activist, after he was beaten to death just over a week ago by an armed group of the red rebels.
Prominent sympathisers like Aruna Roy, Arundhati Roy and Swami Agnivesh among others, in a statement, criticised the killing of Ansari - who had blown the lid off several corrupt practices in the scheme - and demanded an apology from the Maoists.
"We are most disturbed to learn that the murder was executed by a local Maoist squad. In fact, the local committee of CPI (Maoist) itself claimed responsibility and attempted to justify the murder by making absurd allegations such as Niyamat and Bhukhan being police informers. Are we to understand from this incident that there is truth in the rumour of a nexus between the local Maoist squad and corrupt contractors involved in the loot of NREGA funds?
We also demand an apology and explanation from the Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist)... This is a wholly reprehensible act and all those responsible for it must be punished."
The sympathisers also demanded a Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) probe into the case.
"We demand immediate arrest of the prime suspects (named in the FIR), compensation for Niyamat's family..., and a CBI enquiry into Niyamat's murder."
Ansari, who worked for the implementation of the NREGS, was beaten to death in Jharkhand's Latehar district.
It all started after Ansari and his friends, on February 20, exposed a case of brazen embezzlement of NREGS funds. They lodged an FIR against the former Block Development Officer (BDO) of Manika, Kailash Sahu, in connection with the case.
On March 2, Ansari was picked up from his house by a group of armed men and was beaten mercilessly.
He succumbed to his injuries before he reached the nearest hospital in Latehar.
Ansari, incidentally, had received several death threats in the past and had also been attacked a couple of times.
He had been working tirelessly for the rights of NREGS workers in his village since the last few years. In the process, he had exposed several cases of fraud in the implementation of the scheme.
NREGS is the UPA's flagship scheme for the poor that aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household.
The ambitious venture, though, has been marred by poor implementation and rampant corruption in needy states like Jharkhand.