New Delhi, July 15: The National Commission of Scheduled Tribes in its report on the police firing in Kandhamal on July 8 has stated that the Special Operations Group (SOG) had fired without provocation.

Five tribals and Dalits, including an infant, were killed and seven injured in the incident, which Odisha police had termed as "crossfire with Maoists".

Speaking to reporters here today, chairman of the tribal body Rameshwar Oraon said: "Prima facie it seems to be a fake encounter. It was one-sided firing by the police. There was no crossfire. It seems to be case of mistaken identity."

The report was forwarded to the ministry of tribal affairs today. In it, the three-member team has recommended sensitisation of forces deployed in anti-Naxal operations.

"The police should not fire without first challenging the suspect, when the identity of the target is not known. Personnel should not be inducted in the SOG without proper screening. The police in the area should be able to distinguish between Naxalites and villagers. In this case, they only stopped firing when the villagers screamed that they were not Naxalites," Oraon said.

He said that the panel was satisfied with the state government's decision to constitute a judicial commission as well as a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident.

"However, if the findings of the SIT are found to differ greatly from our own findings, we may consider disputing them," he said.

The recommendations also include a request to the Odisha government to increase the compensation from Rs 7 lakh to "a higher amount at the discretion of the state."

"There is no road, power, drinking water or health facility there. I have met the chief secretary who assured that a road would be built there. Odisha can follow the models adopted by Maharashtra and Andhra to monitor the expenditure of the tribal sub-plan that is 22 per cent of the state budget," he told The Telegraph.

In Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, tribal funds are disbursed by the tribal welfare department and the project executive officers of agency areas, respectively. In Odisha, it is monitored by individual departments.

"The victims died while travelling 40km to Baliguda to withdraw their Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) wages from a bank, as there was no bank in their area. Odisha can follow the example of other states where banking business correspondents deliver money to the homes of people," he said.

He added, "We will call a meeting of home ministry officials next week as the Central Reserve Police Force and other central forces are also deployed there. We will discuss how troops can be sensitised to prevent the recurrence of such an incident."