Blaming Congress for the Sonebhadra massacre, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said illegal transfer of land in 1955, when Congress was in power, sowed the seeds of discontent that led to the incident in which 10 people were shot dead and 28 others injured on July 17.
“On the recommendation of the two-member probe team which enquired into administrative lapses during Sonebhadra firing, the government has suspended five district officials, including a SDM, a DySP, a police inspector, a sub-inspector and a beat constable,” Yogi said here on Friday.
In his statement in the Vidhan Sabha and later while addressing the media, the Chief Minister said that the government had constituted a three-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) to probe into the land deal in Ombuha village under Ghorawal police station of Sonebhadra.
The other two members of the committee are Principal Secretary (Labour) and Divisional Commissioner of Mirzapur. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 10 days.
The ADG of Varanasi zone will examine the criminal part and police action and submit a report within 10 days.
“The land deal needs to be probed to find out how a gram sabha land was first sold to a society in 1955 and then transferred to an IAS officer of Bihar cadre in 1989. Incidentally, in those years Congress was in power,” Yogi said, indirectly blaming the Congress for the land deal.
The Chief Minister said that when the said officer could not occupy the land, he sold it to the gram pradhan in 2017. Prior to this sale, farmers who used to do farming on the land used to pay some money to the society owner. But after 2017, they stopped doing so,” he said.
“There have been many previous instances of clashes over possession of the said land. Investigation of every incident that occurred in 1955, 1989 and 2017 is necessary to find out the truth,” the Chief Minister said and added that tension was simmering there for the past several years but no one tried to resolve the issue.
In the Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister assured the House that the government would not spare the guilty people involved in the incident and said that till date 29 persons, including the prime accused gram pradhan and his brother, had been arrested. Besides, he said, one licensed SBBL, one rifle and three DBBL guns and six tractors used in the incident had also been recovered.
He said financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each had been given to the dependants of those killed in the incident and financial aid of Rs 50,000 had been provided to the injured. He said the government had also assured free treatment to the injured.
As soon as the House assembled, the opposition members led by Samajwadi Party were on their feet, demanding a debate on the government action against Mohammad Azam Khan.
Amid the ruckus, the Chief Minister spoke about Sonebhadra. As he continued to speak, the SP members entered into the Well of the House and raised anti-government slogans. Due to the pandemonium, the Question Hour was disrupted. Later, outside Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister said that when he was speaking inside the House, the opposition members disrupted his speech. “The opposition does not have patience to listen to truth,” he said.
