Keonjhar: A high-level All India Congress Committee (AICC) inquiry team, led by senior Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi, met the family of a tribal minor girl who was allegedly gangraped and murdered in Keonjhar district recently. The team conducted an investigation into the incident.
Accompanying Dasmunsi were MPs Ranjit Ranjan, Praniti Shinde, S Jothimani, and Shobha Oza. The team spoke with the victim’s family and villagers to gather facts, condemned the crime, and demanded strict action against the perpetrators.
The team highlighted a sharp rise in violence against women, particularly in tribal communities, and vowed to raise the issue nationally. “The Congress party will submit a detailed field inquiry report to party leadership and make this a major issue in the Parliament,” team members told reporters.
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According to sources, the minor girl from the Pandapada police station area under Harichandanpur block was gangraped and murdered. Her body was allegedly hanged from a tree to stage the death as a suicide.
Following the incident, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das and former OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik directed a District Congress Committee team to visit the victim’s village and meet her family. A second team, led by former OPCC President Jaydev Jena, also visited, demanding immediate punishment for the culprits, a Crime Branch investigation, and at least 25 lakh rupees as ex-gratia from the state government.
District Congress president Mohan Parida, former PCC general secretary Manoj Jena, state Tribal Congress president Yashwant Singh Laguri, former PCC secretary Sangram Das, PCC coordinator Sudhanshu Shekhar Deo, former MP Shankuntala Laguri, former MLA Subarna Naik, and former Mahila Congress vice president Sangita Singh were among those present.
PNN
