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CBI probe sought into NREGA activist murder

Special Correspondent

New Delhi: The murder of an activist involved in a social audit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) works in Jharkhand has led to demands that the case be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

On May 14, Lalit Kumar Mehta, a member of the Vikas Sahyog Kendra in Palamau district, was brutally killed while he was returning from Daltonganj to Chhattarpur on a motorcycle.

Lalit had been working in the area for more than 15 years on issues related to the right to food and the right to work.

“He was a very gentle person and his work was widely appreciated. However, he was also fearless in exposing corruption and exploitation, and often came in the way of vested interests,” a statement issued on Monday by Balram of the Right to Food campaign, Jean Dreze of the Allahabad University and others said.

At the time of the incident, Lalit was helping a team of volunteers to conduct a social audit of NREGA works in Chainpur and Chhattarpur Blocks of Palamau.

Attempts had already been made to dissuade the team from conducting this investigation, particularly in the Chainpur block.

Asking whether it was mere coincidence that Lalit was murdered just a day after the investigation began, the statement calls for both a CBI probe and strict action on all the complaints and irregularities emerging from this social audit of NREGA.

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