Hyderabad: The police firing on a group of farmers protesting against a proposed power plant at Sompeta in Andhra Pradesh was deliberate, an independent fact- finding committee has alleged, reports Mid Day.
Demanding a judicial probe into the matter, the committee said in its report that there was no warning from the police nor was there any provocation from the agitators.
G. Krishnamurthy, a 60- year- old fisherman of Palasapuram village, was standing in a field by the roadside when he felt some sharp object piercing through his abdomen. Within seconds, blood began oozing out from belly. A shocked Krishnamurthy walked a few steps on to the road and collapsed within seconds without even writhing in pain. As fellow villagers surrounded him, he breathed his last.
Krishnamurthy was one of the two fishermen who fell to police bullets at Sompeta, which witnessed a massive agitation by local fishermen and farmers on July 14. They were protesting against the setting up of a 2,640- MW thermal power plant by Nagarjuna Constructions Company ( NCC) with the support of the Andhra Pradesh government.
“He was not armed. He was simply waiting for the police to leave the place, so that he could return home safely. But the police fired at him without any warning,” former Union power secretary EAS Sarma said. Sarma has been fighting against the Sompeta power plant for the past three years.
Interestingly, scores of mediapersons were witnesses to the firing by the police as well as their brutal attack on the unarmed villagers, including women.
“There were hundreds of goons hired by NCC at the protest site. In order to differentiate themselves from ordinary villagers and escape the police assault, these goons wore blue ribbons on their heads,” Sarma said.
An unknown photographer clicked the shooting of Krishnamurthy. He captured Krishnamurthy being shot in the abdomen, then the shock on his face and the way he collapsed.
“The firing was suddenly done from inside a police van on the Sompeta- Baruva road, on either side of which the fields are located. The police van started moving towards Sompeta, while the man inside continued firing from a close range. The bullets hit the victims above waist level, except two who were hit on the thigh and the ankle. Two persons — G. Joga Rao of Lakkavaram and Krishnamurthy of Palasapuram — died on the spot and five others, including a cameraman of a local television channel, sustained bullet injuries,” the committee said in its report. The fact finding team was headed by former Orissa high court judge P. K. Mishra.
