Cops make no headway in Nun’s killing in Jharkhand

Agencies

Ranchi, 17 November 2011: Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Thursday said police was inquiring into the killing of a nun who spearheaded an anti-displacement stir against a private coal company at Pachwara village in Pakur district.

 

"Now the police is inquiring into the incident. If required, a separate probe would be instituted," Munda told reporters here.

 

Valsha John (52) was hacked to death on Tuesday by about 35 to 40 unidentified persons at her house in Pachwara under Amrapara block in Pakur district.

She came to Pakur 12 years ago and Around three years ago, she began her protest against mining by Panem Coal Company.

 

According to locals, the stir began after villagers feared displacement following mining.

 

DIG (Santhal Pargana) V K Pandey had yesterday said that police suspect reports of Valsha’s withdrawal from the anti-displacement movement against the company might have been the reason behind the incident.

 

Pakur SP Amarnath Khanna said after Valsha returned on November 7 from her village in Kerala, some villagers had protested her return. However, no arrests were made in this connection.

 

Sr.Valsha John, an ordained nun of Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary hailed from Kerala’s Ernakulam district and spearheaded an anti-displacement movement against a private company at Pachwara village in Pakur district, was killed by unidentified men.

 

’She was beaten with sticks and then axed to death at around 11.30 hours on the night of Tuesday, November 15, 2011. An FIR has been filed against unknown men,’ Pakur Superintendent of Police Amarnath Khanna told reporters in Pakur.Global Council of Indian Christians(GCIC) demanded a CBI probe into the mysterious murder of the whistle blower.