As many as 22 people were implicated in the death of Binobha Meher, a reserve inspector of police. “Out of the 22, six died during the course of the trial while three others could not appear in court as they were unwell,” public prosecutor Niranajan Padhy said. The trial of the trio is still under way.
On June 18, 1998, a meeting was called in Sindhigaon to discuss land acquisition for a proposed Tata Steel project. There, a clash ensued between police and villagers opposed to the acquisition. The situation turned violent, and bombs were hurled at the police team, killing Meher.
Reddy, now 68, who had led the agitation against the proposed steel plant, said they would challenge the verdict. “We are very disappointed with the judgment. We will approach the higher court to get justice,” said the former MLA. Besides Reddy, the others who have been sentenced to life are P Kamaraju Reddy (75), Kalia Sethi (45), N Dillip Kumar Reddy (50), Gurudev Behera (50), P Nageswar Reddy (65), P Dambaru Reddy (66), L Chandramani Reddy (60), D Kamaraju Burma (69), P Potudu (68), Tuna Behera (52), R Ghana Reddy (60) and Sudam Roula (59).