Bhubaneswar, July 24: The Congress today accused the BJD of diverting public attention from the "cold-blooded murder" of five innocent tribals by the state machinery by raising the Mahanadi dam issue.

Former Union minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo, who led a five-member delegation to the Gumudhuha village in Kandhamal district, today said: "The victims said how the bullet hit them from the left side. It was a case of cold-blooded murder. There was no cross-firing. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik should take moral responsibility for this."

The members of the team included former Union minister Jairam Ramesh, Congress leaders K.H. Muniyappa and Vincent Pala and former inspector general of police Arun Oraon.

To give credence to their findings, Oraon said: "The incident took place around 8pm. There was visibility and a vehicle coming from a distance could easily be noticed. The Special Operations Group (SOG) team must also be having night visibility devices. The child in the auto was crying when the vehicle stopped at the spot."

Oraon said the bullets came from one side of the auto and there was no sign of cross-firing as claimed by the state police. "All the bullets hit the victim in the hip area, a clear sign that bullets were fired from close distance," he said

Coming down heavily on the government, Ramesh said: "This is the fourth incident in a year - two in Kandhamal and one each in Nuapada and Kalahandi districts - where dalits and tribals have been killed in encounters. We will raise the issue in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as to how the tribals and dalits are being targeted here."

Ramesh alleged that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Naveen Patnaik were behaving like " mouni babas" (silent monks) whenever there was atrocity on the weaker sections.

Ramesh said that if the land patta under the Forest Rights Act are given to the tribals, the Maoist problem could be curtailed to a great extent.

"AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi is going to launch a nation-wide campaign on the issue from next month."

On the issue of the dispute going on with Chhattisgarh over its plan to build a barrage over the upstream of Mahanadi, he said: "We will send a delegation to Chhattisgarh to study the projects and publish our report."

Ramesh also said Naveen should take an all-party delegation to Delhi and meet the Prime Minister on the issue.