In a letter to the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Arjun Munda, the Chairman of the IHRO, DS Gill has said that the murderers of the Niyamat Ansari must be booked under law.
Gill, in his letter, also mentioned the names of eight alleged perpetrators of the murder namely, Sudarshan, Shankar Dubey, Vijay Dubey, Purushottam Prashad, Arun Singh, Vashisht Tiwari, Prem Chand Singh and Devas Singh. All these names haves been mentioned in the FIR filed at Latehar Police Station in connection with the murder of Niyamat Ansari.
Other human right activists Arundhati Roy, Jean Drèze, Aruna Roy, and others have also condemned the murder of Niyamat Ansari and a similar attempt — on the same day, March 2 — on the life of his associate Bhukhan Singh.
“The murder was the culmination of a series of acts of harassment, including at least one earlier attempt on their lives. Ansari and Singh fearlessly continued to fight for the rights of NREGA workers and stood up against the nexus of corruption and crime in the area” they said.
They were dismayed by the insidious allegations that have been made about Ansari in sections of the media, attempting to project him as a ‘criminal’ to divert attention from the real issues and culprits.
“We demand the immediate arrest of the prime suspects (named in the FIR), compensation for Ansari’s family, protection for Singh, and a CBI inquiry into Ansari’s murder” they said in statement.
Ansari was murdered on March 3, 2011 at Kope Gram Panchayat in Manika Block in Latehar District in Jharkhand. Ansari is also a resident of this place. The gansters were also in search of Ansari’s associate, Bhukhan Singh who managed to escape.
Gill urged the Jharkhand Chief Minister to see that a Judicial Magistrate record the statements of the witnesses and the state police provide protection to the witnesses. The families of Niyamat Ansari and Bhukhan Singh be given adequate protection and the state government pay interim compensation to Niyamat Ansari’s family and investigation into the case be completed.
According to reports, Niyamat Ansari had exposed a case of corruption in NREGA and an FIR was lodged against a former BDO and another Panchayat Sevak of Manika block, Latehar (Jharkhand). On 2nd March 2011, Niyamat Ansari was picked from his house and beaten to death. The reports also suggest that the “real mastermind” behind the murder is a contractor who receives protection from local politicians.
Niyamat Ansari, a resident of Kope Gram Panchayat had been working tirelessly for the rights of NREGA workers in this area for the last few years. He was an active member of Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and was also active with NREGA Sahayata Kendra in Manika. Together with other local activists, he fearlessly exposed many cases of fraud in NREGA in recent past.