The police team probing the murder of seven men at Burugulikera village in West Singhbhum is yet to submit its report, though 10 days have passed since the chief minister ordered the cops to set up a special investigation team.

The mass murder at the village, under Gudri police station in Chakradharpur sub-division of West Singhbhum, followed a gram sabha meeting on the night of January 19.

As the area is in a remote, Naxalism-affected zone, the police could know about the incident only on January 21.

On January 22, the police found the beheaded bodies and the severed heads from a nullah near Burugulikera.

Chief minister Hemant Soren visited the village on January 23, and ordered an SIT probe. The SIT was given a five-day deadline to crack the case.

The police have arrested 17 men accused of the massacre and sent them all to jail, but the SIT headed by Ghatshila sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Rajesh Kumar Mehta has not submitted its report.

None of the senior police officials, including Kolhan deputy inspector-general (DIG) Kuldeep Dwivedi and SDPO Mehta, responded to telephone calls on Monday.

A senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the SIT was still preparing its report.

The senior police officer, who not in the SIT but part of the investigation, said the massacre was a result of longstanding dispute.

“Those who killed the villagers are supporters of the pathalgadi movement and had declared to reject government schemes. As the victims led by James Burh were opposed to those pathalgadi activists, Sukhram Munda, the village head who is a supporter of pathalgadi, had deprived James Burh and other rivals of things signing on birth or death certificate and on documents related to land ownership as punishment. James along with his nine supporters had on January 16 attacked five houses belonging to the pathalgadi supporters,” the officer claimed.

Pathalgadi is a traditional tribal practice of setting up stone plaques for various things, including village boundary marking.

In 2017-18, against the backdrop of the then state government’s bid to change land tenancy laws, tribals had set up pathalgadi to assert their special rights guaranteed under the Constitution. The police had, however, claimed it was an act of rebellion against the state. Thousands were booked for sedition, and Hemant in his first decision as CM had quashed those FIRs.

According to the senior police officer, irked by the January 16 attack, Sukhram had called a gram sabha meeting on January 19 evening and called all the 10 persons involved in ransacking the five houses.

“One of the 10 attackers was a PLFI member, Mangra Pingua, who did not attend the meeting. The remaining nine attended it. Two of the nine managed to escape apprehending danger, but seven, including James Burh, were at the meeting,” the police officer said.

“One of the seven anti-pathalgadi activists also trued to flee, but was chased and caught. He was thrashed for trying to flee and after he was brought to the meeting place, all seven including James were thrashed to death and later beheaded.”