Berhampur, July 23: State police continue to maintain that the five tribals, including a two-year-old child, were killed in exchange of fire between the cops and Maoists in Gumudumaha in Kandhamal district on July 8 notwithstanding the assertions of the victims that the firing came from one side only.

The state police's stance became evident from the fact that the special investigation team (SIT) of the Human Rights Protection Cell of the state police, which is probing into the firing incident, yesterday deposited in a local court 15 AK-47 rifles used by the Special Operations Group (SOG) jawans involved in the operation, 14 cartridges of AK-47 Rifles, three cartridges of 303 rifles and seven cartridges of INSAS rifles used during the firing. The weapons and the ammunition have been sent to the state's Forensic Laboratory. Security experts said the SOG jawans use AK-47 rifles and the rebels are known for using 303 and INSAS rifles. "By producing three cartridges of 303 and seven bullets of INSAS rifles, the police are trying to prove that there was an exchange of fire between the SOG jawans and the Maoists," alleged tribal leader Lambodar Kanhar.

Two witnesses - the driver of the auto rickshaw in which the victims were returning to their village and the mother of the two-year-old child had earlier told The Telegraph that the firing were from the "left side", or where the SOG jawans were stationed.

They had disputed the claims of the police that there was an exchange of fire between the Maoists (supposed to be to right of the auto-rickshaw) and the SOG jawans, which resulted in the deaths of the five.

In a related development today, the Congress said it would raise the firing issue in Parliament. This was announced by the fact-finding team of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), headed by former Union minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo.

"The team, which reached Baliguda in the afternoon, left for Gumudumaha village to get the first hand information about the incidentThe BJD made by the Congress and BJP against the laxity on the part of the state governmentThe Congress and other have gone to the spot late and incident," said BJD spokesperson Sashi Bhusan Behera.