Ranchi: The alleged fake Naxalite encounter of 2015 dominated the discourse of the Assembly's winter session on Thursday, with the Opposition accusing the Raghubar Das government of transferring ADG (CID) M.V. Rao, who was heading a probe into it, to hush up the case, and demanding a CBI or judicial inquiry into it.

Rao, who had been probing into the encounter for only three weeks and was due to submit a report on its findings to Jharkhand High Court in January, was transferred on Wednesday to Delhi.

In June 2015, four months after D.K. Pandey became state DGP, a team of district police and CRPF's CoBRA battalion gunned down 12 men on the premise they were Maoists at Palamau's Bakoria village under Satbarwa thana. Though one of them was Dr Bomb, a notorious rebel, the rest were apparently innocent.

As the House started on Thursday, Lohardaga MLA Sukhdeo Bhagat and JVM MLA Pradeep Kumar Yadav waved copies of the report 'Probe heat shunts cop' published in The Telegraph to demand an explanation from the government.

"ADG Rao was probing in the case correctly on the instruction of Jharkhand High Court. He was transferred as the government became nervous that the probe report would expose it as a fake encounter," Bhagat thundered as he was joined by JVM's Yadav in pointing out that the fake Naxalite surrender of 514 youths during 2010-2012 also occurred when Pandey was the IG of CRPF (Jharkhand).

"In both cases, the Raghubar Das government is shielding guilty officers. We demand judicial or CBI inquiry into the encounter. Opposition will not let this issue to die. Innocent people were murdered in cold blood," Yadav said.

Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren alleged chief minister Raghubar Das along with DGP and chief secretary were involved. When Das told Hemant that the protests were against the decorum of the House and the Opposition had made a mockery of the House, the latter shot back saying in effect that the chief minister had lost the moral ground to chastise them on decorum.

" Satbarwa mein logon ka murder karwaya, aapne rajya ko mazak bana ke rakha hua hai aur aap humein samjha rahen hain (You got people murdered in Satbarwa, you're making a mockery of the state and you're talking down to us)," Hemant said, telling Speaker Dinesh Oraon to "ask Das to announce either CBI or judicial inquiry in the matter (fake encounter).

Probes into the encounter apart, JMM demanded the government roll back local resident and employment policy and withdraw its demand to amend the land acquisition act, dubbing them both anti-people.

The House was adjourned thrice amid noisy scenes that look likely to continue on Friday. "Bakoria (encounter) is a grave violation of human rights that expose the hollow claim of how Jharkhand police is eliminating LWE. by year-end. Today an ADG is transferred, tomorrow the government will muzzle democracy," said Bhagat.