Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (SB)
 
Panaji, Jun 5: The police remained mute spectators as two tribal leaders were murdered infront of them by throwing into the fire by a crowd, a magisterial inquiry report into Balli Carnage has said.
 
The report, which was submitted to Chief Secretary on Thursday night, has castigated police department for intelligence failure.
 
Magistrate Mihir Vardhan, who has penned the report, after meticulous investigations, has said that police force was not enough to handle the crowd of tribals on May 25. But further in the report he has said that the police officers remained mute spectators as local mob, to avenge the tribal agitation, threw two leaders into the fire, alive.
 
The agitation  by Gaonkar and Velip tribals pressing for 12 point demands, including implementation of reservation in government jobs, had turned violent at Balli.
 
The protestors who had blocked National Highway 17 at Balli, 60 kms away from Panaji, were un-provokingly cane charged by the police that led to the violence.
 
A mob of locals, who retaliated the tribals, had burnt alive two leaders – Manguesh Gaonkar and Dilip Velip.
 
United Tribal Association Alliance (UTAA), an organization that led the agitation, had rued the police atrocities on them. They had said that the cane charge happened when crowd was dispersing peacefully, when their demands were assured to be fulfilled by the government.
 
Magistrate’s report has said that there was downright failure of police intelligence that resulted in the chaos. Vardhan has said that since there was no proper intelligence, even the police presence was thin.
 
Goa police spokesman Atmaram Deshpande had claimed that Balli incident was not due to police intelligence failure.  Deshpande, who heads Special Branch, had said that police never expected the crowd to get violent.
 
UTAA  alleged that their leaders were murdered in presence of police, the claim which was flatly refuted by Deshpande, who had called the agitating tribals as drunkards.
 
But the magisterial inquiry has stated that both the leaders were actually murdered, that too, in presence of police officers. The report also states that the attack on UTAA activists was a planned conspiracy.
 
The report has also pointed out faults in the UTAA leaders. The report has accused tribal activists of damaging public property and also attack on the policemen.
 
Superintendent of Police Tony Rodrigues, who was heading the force, was seriously injured when a stone broke his jaw.
 
Goa government has already cleared file for Judicial inquiry into the Balli violence. Kamat had said that Chief Secretary has written to the Chief Justice of Bombay High court asking to depute a judge for the inquiry.