By IANS,
Raipur : The Chhattisgarh government Monday denied reports that six villagers have died of starvation in the Tarmetla area of insurgency-hit Dantewada district where the security forces allegedly went on a rampage last month.
“Chief Minister Raman Singh reached Tarmetla on Saturday to make an on the spot assessment. The villagers told him that no one in the area died of starvation after the arson incident,” an official statement said.
The statement comes in the backdrop of reports that around six villagers had died of starvation in Tarmetla area, days after the security forces allegedly went on a rampage in Tarmetla and two nearby tribal villages.
The report of alleged police brutalities made headlines in newspapers here for several days and the state government March 31 announced a judicial probe into the incident.
Though the state government maintains that the brutalities against civilians were an act of the Maoists, it also says the government will not let any policemen to go scot free if the probe report indicts them.
The tribal villagers had alleged that policemen not only burnt down over 200 huts, but killed a few people and raped women.