N Simanchal Reddy

Berhampur, Sept. 23: The CPI has demanded a CID probe into the murder of N Simanchal Reddy (45), former chairman of Chatrapur Block in Ganjam district who was shot dead at Chamakhandi on Wednesday. The body of Simanchal was creamated at his native village Banabulapalli on Thursday.

“This is a conspiracy to weaken the party organisation at grassroots level and eliminate a promising popular political leader,” said most of the CPI leaders, who attended the funeral.

Simanchal was shot at his neck from behind when he was standing on the rooftop of his newly built house near the CPI office on Wednesday evening. He was brought to the M.K.C.G. Hospital where he was declared dead.

Though police was tight-lipped about the course of investigation, victim’s brother former Chhatrapur MLA Narayan Reddy, a CPI leader, suspected the involvement of one 22-year old Harihar Nayak of the same village. Harihar’s father had been in possession of a piece of land since 1946. However, recently the land had been settled in favour of another person and Harihar suspected that Reddy had been instrumental in getting them dispossessed of the land, he said.

He said that about a month ago Harihar made an unsuccessful bid on the life of Reddy near Ghadaghadapalli village.

The victim’s driver told police that on Wednesday Harihar came on a motorbike and enquired about the whereabouts of Reddy. Then Harihar reportedly approached Reddy’s house.

It was alleged that Harihar fired at him from behind and fled away leaving his motorbike behind. Reddy was taken to hospital by police jeep.

Since the crime, Harihar has been absconding.

“We immediately shifted him to hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead,” said Sisir Kumar Mishra, inspector in-charge of Chamakhandi police station. A case of murder had been registered and the body, after postmortem, was handed over to the family members.

Mishra said that police were also looking into the land angle and expressed the hope that they would soon identify people involved in the murder. The complaint lodged by one Duryodhan Nahak, however, did not mention anything about land dispute, he said.