Even as Adivasi and Dalit communities in Odisha’s Sijimali region continue to resist mining operations, the state has responded not with dialogue but with an intensifying crackdown on villagers aimed at breaking a sustained people’s movement against the bauxite project of Vedanta Limited in Kashipur block of Raygada district. The arrests of anti-mining solidarity struggle activists Dr. Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik on October 16 on cooked up charges is part of the ceaseless violence and arbitrary arrests unleashed by the state government and mining corporate nexus since mid-2023.

October 18, 2026: The ongoing state repression of the Adivasi and Dalit communities in South Odisha fighting to protect their land, forest and water resources including their hills, streams and their very identity, along with anti-mining activists supporting the people’s movements continues with the arrests of Dr. Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik from Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi on the night of 16th October 2026.

Laxman Naik is a leading Dalit activist of the Ma Mati Mali Surakhya Manch, and also of Samajwadi Jan Parishad. Dr Randall Sequeria has been working with Adivasi communities in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts. Both are dedicated to supporting people’s movements in Odisha against dispossession and distress caused by mining and industrialization and in protecting human habitats.

They were detained for the entire night at Town Police station without providing them any access to their lawyers or family members. Both were produced in front of the SDJM, Rayagada in connection with Kashipur Police Station Case no. 85/2026, which is related to the incidents that occurred in the intervening night of April 6th-7th in Kantamal Village, Rayagada, where a large police contingent entered into the village, leading to indiscriminate lathi-charge and firing of tear gas shells resulting in the injury of numerous villagers and police personnel.

Neither Laxman Naik’s nor Dr. Randall’s names are mentioned in the FIR. The Kashipur police has unleashed a battery of charges against the two ranging from attempt to murder, rioting armed with a deadly weapon, and criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death or grievous hurt.

Both of them have been subsequently sent to remand at the Rayagada Sub Jail.

The Concerned Citizens Committee, Odisha, has released a statement appealing to all democratic and progressive organizations, movements and individuals to express solidarity and demand the withdrawal of all criminal cases foisted on the struggling people of Odisha for Jal, Jangal and Jameen.

The full statement is published here.

Statement by Concerned Citizens Committee, Odisha

Date: October 18, 2026, 12 AM

The ongoing state repression of the Adivasi and Dalit communities in South Odisha fighting to protect their land, forest and water resources including their hills, streams and their very identity, along with anti-mining activists supporting the people’s movements continues with the arrests of Dr. Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik from Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi on the night of 16th October 2026 around 10.45 PM.

Laxman Naik is a leading Dalit activist of the Ma Mati Mali Surakhya Manch, and also of Samajwadi Jan Parishad. Professionally, he is a skilled martial arts trainer in Rayagada District. Dr Randall Sequeria has been working with Adivasi communities in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts. After MBBS, he did MD in General Medicine. He is also a member of Medico Friends Circle and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan. Both are dedicated to supporting people’s movements struggling against dispossession and distress caused by mining and industrialization and in protecting human habitats.

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Both were illegally picked up from Dr. Randall’s residence in Hill Town, Bhawanipatna. Two jeeps of police, many in plain clothes and a few in uniforms surrounded the residence, and around 6 of them led by the IIC of Town Police Station, Pradyuman Kumar Mahapatra, entered Dr. Randall’s home without stating any reason or providing any warrant or notice, (confiscated/) taken away their phones and forcibly took them to the Town Police station in Bhawanipatna in the middle of the night.

They were detained for the entire night at Town Police station without providing them any access to their lawyers or family members. However, their whereabouts remained unknown from 6AM on the 17th October till the time they were produced in front of the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) at Rayagada at 6.30PM. Despite repeated efforts and requests by lawyers, family members and activists to enquire about their whereabouts and the grounds of their arrests, the Kalahandi and Rayagada police refused to provide any information.

An intimation notice sent to the residence of Dr. Randall in the afternoon of 17th October wrongfully states that he was arrested at 10AM, with no mention of his overnight illegal detention and subsequent transfer to Kashipur, Rayagada. In the case of Laxman Naik, his family alleges that no such notice was made available to them, and his whereabouts and grounds for detention remained completely unknown till he was produced in front of the SDJM at Rayagada.

Both Dr. Randall and Laxman were produced in front of the SDJM, Rayagada in connection with Kashipur Police Station Case no. 85/2026, which is related to the incidents that occurred in the intervening night of April 6th-7th in Kantamal Village, Rayagada, where a large police contingent entered into the village, leading to indiscriminate lathi charge and firing of tear gas shells resulting in the injury of numerous villagers and police personnel.

Neither Laxman Naik’s nor Dr. Randall’s names are mentioned in the FIR. The Kashipur police has unleashed a battery of charges against the two ranging from Sec 109(1) (attempt to murder), Sec 191(2) and 191(3) (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), Sec 310(2) (dacoity or armed robbery), Sec 351(3) (criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death or grievous hurt), including others (Sec 126(1), 127(2), 132, 121(2), 296, 190, BNS). Further, the state has invoked Section 27 of the Arms Act which deals with the possession or usage of arms and ammunition for illegal activators.

The extremely grave nature of these charges, which are completely fabricated, reveals the deeper, malicious intent of the state and police, backed by corporate interests like Vedanta and Adani, to suppress any voice raised against the plunder of the natural landscapes of the Adivasi-Dalit communities inhabiting these regions and break the spirit of people’s movements.

The context of the FIR lies in the brutal police repression carried out through the night of April 6-7 by Odisha Police, when the Rayagada police filed a number of FIRs against the villagers’ collective defiance of prohibitory orders and the police repression on Kantamal. It is outrageous and unfair that no action has been taken against the police nor any investigation into the incidents despite complaints sent by villagers of Kantamal since May 2026.

It is important to note that Dr. Randall has already acquired anticipatory bail in Case No. 87/2026 dated April 7 in which he has been named.  The arrest of Laxman Naik and Dr. Randall based on an FIR (Case 85/2026) related to the same incident, in which neither of them are named, only points to the arbitrary arrests taking place in Kalahandi-Raygada districts against those opposed to mining and expressing the same in democratic, peaceful manner. Further, the filing of three FIRs (Case No 85, 86, 87) related to the same incident dated April 7th is itself legally questionable.

When produced in front of the SDJM, they were not asked anything about their custody period, which happens in normal course to ascertain about custodial violence, if any. Instead, it was Dr. Randall who narrated about the ill-treatment of the two of them faced during their illegal detention and arrest, the forcible capture of their phones without providing a seizure memo or following protocol as well as the fact that they were moved from Bhawanipatna at 6AM without providing any information on the charges against them or where they were being taken to until they were produced before the SDJM, Rayagada at 6.30PM. The SDJM did not record Dr. Randall’s statement. It is our apprehension that the cell phones of the two activists may also be manipulated to manufacture digital evidence against them

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Further, Laxman Naik was not provided an opportunity to record his statement; neither was his family provided with a copy of a notice of his arrest under section 48 of the BNSS. Both of them have been subsequently sent to remand at the Rayagada Sub Jail.

We appeal to all democratic and progressive organizations, movements and individuals to express solidarity and demand the withdrawal of all criminal cases foisted on the struggling people of Odisha for jal, jangal & jameen!!

On behalf of Concerned Citizens Committee, Bhubaneswar:

Prof. Swadhin Pattnaik,

Mrs. Krishna Mohanty,

Prafulla Samantara,

Prof. Sumitra Patel,

Ranjana Padhi,

Deba Prasad Ray,

Adv. Biswapriya Kanungo,

Dr. Biswajit.

Saranya,

Srikanta Mohanty,

Debaranjan,

Pramodini Pradhan,

Srimant Mohanty,

Nigamananda Sarangi,

Sidharth Kar,

Prakas Samantsinghar

Narendra Mohanty & Others

Contact Email Id: ccfodisha@gmail.com