Never named anyone, says wife of murdered tribal on professor Nandini Sundar

Mangalore Today News Network

Raipur, Nov 11, 2016:  Delhi University Professor Nandini Sundar and Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Archana Prasad, accused in a tribal man’s murder, will not be arrested for now, Chhattisgarh assured the Supreme Court on Friday.

The two professors are among 10 accused in the murder last Friday of villager Shamnath Baghel, a member of an anti-Maoist vigilante group in his village.

A senior police officer had said that Baghel’s wife had named the professors in her complaint. Vimla Baghel, an eyewitness to her husband’s murder by Maoist attackers, has denied naming Nandini Sundar and the others.

Mrs Baghel’s one-page statement, released by the police, describes in graphic detail how over six Maoists barged into their home and used sharp weapons to kill her husband. The statement names six attackers and also says that her husband had resisted the attackers, shouted protests and also objected to visits of Ms Sundar and others.

The sheer details and six names raised many questions about the statement. What exactly happened that night? NDTV set out to the remote village in Maoist-affected Bastar.

Watched by Maoists as well as the police, and after hours of road journey, the NDTV team reached Shamnath Baghel’s house. His wife Vimla was sitting in the verandah with her two daughters. Just two days before her husband’s murder, she had her sixth baby. What Vimla revealed was quite contrary to the statement she had allegedly given to the police.

She said Shamnath Baghel was sleeping when the Maoists knocked.

"I did not open then they broke the hinges. They picked up my husband took him out of the house. They pointed a gun at me and asked me to stay inside. There were 15-20 men I did not know any of them. I could not see them properly as they flashed torch on my face. They then killed him. They did not say a word. They took him on the road and killed him," said Vimla.

Did they take the name of Nandini Sundar? "No," she said.

The policemen who allegedly took Vimla’s statement insisted that she did give the statement and did not just sign what she was asked to. They added that it is based on her statement that the professors were charged with murder and criminal conspiracy.

The Criminal Investigation Department or CID is now investigating the case. "The guilty in the case will not be spared even if it is the complainant in the case," said DM Awasthi, a senior police officer in charge of anti-Maoist operations told NDTV.

The Chhattisgarh government has said it will not arrest the professors until the Supreme Court takes up the case next on Tuesday.