Soni Sori demands high-level probe

Raipur: Soni Sori, the primary school teacher arrested for alleged Maoist links, today claimed that she is innocent and sought a high-level probe into the police action and charges against her.

Sori(35), who was shifted from a Jagdalpur hospital to Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital in Raipur after doctors reported that her condition has worsened, said she would not break her hunger strike until and unless all her demands are met.

Talking to PTI, she said one constable "Mankar", posted at Kirandul police station in Dantewada, implicated her in a false case. Soni Sori, an aunt of Lingaram Kodopi who was recently arrested for allegedly acting as a conduit between Maoists and Essar, was apprehended from Katwaria Sarai in New Delhi by a Delhi Police team on October four.

She could not be produced before a court in Chhattisgarh as police claimed that she fell in a bathroom. "I will reveal very soon the cause behind my injuries," Sori said.

Sori said she teaches in an Advasi school in Jabeli village of Dantewara district and that she believes that education can help curb the menace of Naxalism. She alleged that she was being treated like a thief and a dacoit by the police. She also alleged that constable Mankar had asked her to demand Rs 15 lakh, on behalf of one "Vinod", from B K Lala, who worked for Essar Group but she refused.

PTI