The Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha have seen a series of arrests in the last month. The latest of which is of Randall Sequeira, a member of the Medico Friend Circle (MFC), also associated with the Ma Mati Mali Surakhya Manch (MMMSM), and Laxman Naik, a Dalit leader of the Manch, from the former’s residence in Bhawanipatna late at night around 11 pm on October 16, 2026. Randall Sequeira is a doctor by profession who has worked to make healthcare available to Adivasi communities in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts for years, while Naik is a martial arts trainer in Rayagada district. Both are dedicated to supporting the people’s movements against destructive mining projects.
The two were arrested without being informed of the grounds of arrest and without a warrant. They were detained overnight while their phones were taken away. Their whereabouts remained unknown until they were produced before the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) the next day at 6:30 p.m. It is to be noted that the FIR (85/2026) that Sequeira and Naik have been arrested under does not even name them, while they have been charged with offences as serious as attempt to muder, dacoity, rioting and Arms Act offences. The FIR is related to the repression by the police in April 2026 in Kantamal and Talaampadar villages, in which the Rayagada police filed FIRs against villagers for collectively defying prohibitory orders. Dr. Sequeira has already secured anticipatory bail under another FIR (87/2026) for the same incident.
These arrests, as well as the near continuous police repression, need to be seen within the larger context of the sustained opposition against bauxite mining projects in Sijimali (locally known as Tijmali) and Kutrumali hills. The people of the Rayagada and Kalahandi districts have been opposing the Sijimali Bauxite Mining project of Vedanta under Ma Mati Mali Surakhya Manch (MMMSM) since 2023 when Vedanta received the mining lease. The villagers allege that the Gram Sabha consent for the Sijimali bauxite mining project was obtained through coercion and have since challenged the same in the Odisha High Court. The people of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts have stalled mining operations till now, and have opposed it through peaceful measures like rallies, sit-ins and vigils.
The Kutrumali hills were leased to Kalinga Alumina Limited, a company owned by the Adani group, in February 2023. The company has not acquired an environmental clearance since, with the public hearing for the clearance first being notified in April 2026 by the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), and postponed till May 13, 2026. However, given the heavy police repression in Talaampadar and Kantamal, activists appealed for the meeting to be postponed until normalcy returns. Concerns have also been raised by activists about the locations for these hearings – about 50 km away from the affected villages, a violation of public hearing guidelines. Despite all this, the government has notified a rail corridor to facilitate bauxite transportation in the Sijimali-Kutrumali area in April 2026, and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) gave forest clearance for road construction approaching the mining area in May 2026.
Moreover, approximately a month ago, on 10 September 2026, Lada Sikaka, leader of Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti, was arrested by Kalyansinghpur police, Rayagada, while returning from Lanjigarh court after securing bail in another case with his lawyer and some friends. His whereabouts were unknown and he was allegedly being moved between different locations until he was finally produced in court on 12 September, 2026, well after the constitutionally mandated 24 hours had passed. The charges against Sikaka under which he was produced in court have not been disclosed – other than a list of police cases dating as far back as 2012.
Within merely two hours of Lada Sikaka’s arrest, the villages of Kantamal and Bondel in Kashipur block of Rayagada district, as well as the village of Talaampadar in the Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi district saw heavy police deployment. Armed Odisha police and paramilitary personnel had been stationed at the outskirts of Kantamal and the road leading up to the village, as well as the road leading up to the Talaampadar village. This is concerning keeping in mind the brutal assault of the people of Kantamal and Talaampadar villages in April and March 2026, respectively. In both cases, the villagers were attacked in the middle of the night and beaten up and their property destroyed.
It is clear that the state has refused to meaningfully engage with the people’s peaceful and democratic opposition, but rather responded with repression against their demand for their constitutionally protected rights. Within the last three years 43 cases have been filed, related to the resistance movement, with over a hundred Adivasis and Dalits having been sent to jail. Additionally, the figures for just one month between 8 March 2026 to 8 April 2026, are shocking – 24 people have been arrested and sent to jail, while 217 people are named as accused and 1,140 as “others”.
The cases of both Lada Sikaka and Randall Sequeira do not stand alone. Lingaraj Azad, a Samajwadi Jana Parishad leader, and Hiramal Naik, another leading figure of the MMMSM, both face multiple criminal cases. It has become the practice of the state to file multiple FIRs against leaders of the movement opposing the mining projects, that will displace villagers and dispossess them of their sacred Malis, of the rivers and forest that sustain their lives. For instance, the Sijimali bauxite mining project alone, according to estimates by local organisations, would affect around 45 villages.
Both the Rayagada and the Kalahandi districts are protected under the Fifth schedule of the Indian constitution. The mining corporations that have been facing a sustained and strong opposition rely on the brute force of the police to crush a movement that is fighting for not only their constitutionally protected rights, but also for a sacred belief system and, against the extraction from and destruction of their lands, and the state seems happy to do their bidding. Police action in terms of arrests, deployment of armed personnel, and imposition of S163 BNSS (S144 IPC) is a routine practice in these regions, creating a precarious situation wherein people are attacked, assaulted and forced to live in continuous terror.
It is clear that the government is adamant on silencing any voice that rises in support of the movement against corporate mining interests. Thus, it is imperative to not treat these arrests as isolated cases but rather as the state’s attempt to remove any obstacle to the extractive mining projects that benefit the mining corporations even at the cost of people’s rights. The arrests of supporters of the movement, filing of multiple FIRs on a single person which makes getting bail in one case essentially obsolete, highlight the intensifying attack of the state forces on a peaceful and democratic people’s movement with a clear usage of the criminal justice system to not only suppress the movement with force, but also to weaken the resolve of those who have been fighting for their rights.
PUDR demands —
- Immediate release of Randall Sequeira, Laxman Naik, Lada Sikaka, Hiramal Naik, and Lingraj Azad, as well as others arrested.
- Withdrawal and cancellation of the FIRs against the members and supporters of the movement.
- Putting a stop to armed police deployment around villages and violent police repression against the villagers.
- Cease mining activities and related construction activities of the road and rail corridor facilitating mining projects in the Sijimali and Kutrumali areas until consent of the villagers is obtained in a fair manner.
- Hold gram sabha meetings at a location easily accessible to the gram sabha members, in a non-coercive and fear free environment
Deepika Tandon & Shahana Bhattacharya
Secretaries, PUDR
