The suspensions followed the report of the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC) of the southern division, who squarely blamed the district administration for the violence on December 8, where two undertrials were burnt alive by an angry mob. The headquarters of both the officers have been fixed at Bhubaneswar.

The RDC and Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) have been asked by the chief minister, J B Patnaik, to probe the incident and submit separate reports to the government. The RDC and the ADG have submitted their preliminary reports to the government.

Sources said that the RDC has blamed both the district collector and the SP for not taking action even though they were aware of the tension in the area since December 7. Some of the tribal leaders had contacted both the officials and hadthreatened of dire consequences if no action was taken on their demands by December 8. The RDC has observed that the situation could have been brought under control had the collector and SP been present at the spot. Other officials also behaved in a cowardice manner, the report added.

Earlier, the additional district magistrate, the officer-in-charge of R Udaygiri police station and an Assistant Sub-Inspector were put under suspension.

A five thousand-strong mob had broken into the R Udaygiri Jail and burnt alive two undertrials as the district magistrate and the local police stood helpless. Even the local police station was not spared, which the mob burnt into cinders. The two undertrials were accused of robbing tribal passengers in a bus, a few days before the incident.

In another incident, four days later, tribals set fire to forty houses belonging to Pana community at Mukundpur in Gajapati district. The government's decision to suspend the district collector and the SP rocked the Orissa Assembly onMonday with the Biju Janata Dal and Janata Dal members taking strong exception to it.

Raising the issue during the Zero hour, BJD member Bijay Mahapatra expressed surprise over the fact that the two officials were suspended at a time when the House committee headed by Speaker Chintamani Dyan Samantra was visiting the spot. He demanded that the House should debate the issue by suspending all other business. Dal leader Ashok Das demanded that the chief minister should tender his resignation on the issue, which exposed lawlessness in the State.