'Destroying entire village is not justice': Day later, Odisha’s MV-26 turns ghost village; over 160 houses gutted

MALKANGIRI: Blackened mud walls and damaged belongings strewn all over are what remain of arson-scarred Malkangiri Village-26 (MV-26) in Odisha, a day after a tribal mob from neighbouring Rakhalguda ran riot in this pocket of Bangladeshorigin settlers over an Adivasi woman’s beheading. The district administration has set up a special investigation team to probe the murder. MV-26, home to 188 families, didn’t have a single resident who stayed back as security personnel patrolled the surroundings on Tuesday. The settlers, mostly Bengali-speaking Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh decades ago and got Indian citizenship, fled after being outnumbered by the mob that stormed their village on Monday and torched more than 160 houses. Tribals allege that Lake Padiami (51), the woman whose mu