In a separate case, a mob of 500 people looted and burned down 92 to 111 Christian houses and 2 Churches on the same day.
The leader of the Mozdur Sangha who had a criminal record was arrested for looting a bus which carried tribal people to their work.
The tribal people participate in their traditional cultivation techniques and gathering natural products from the forest.
[1] According to the report of the All India Federation of Organizations for Democratic Rights, a limited number of day-to-day wage workers are employed in "khalasi" (head load) jobs in and around Ramgiri-Udaygiri.
[3] The RSS leader, Laxmi Bhai forced Mozdur Sangha workers to leave their jobs due to a dispute between the two unions over contract work.
[3] Some people robbed a private bus carrying some of the contract workers to Arunachal Pradesh, 2 km away from the Ramgiri-Udaygiri Police station.
Next day the tribal people began their agitation under the leadership of Chasi Mulia Samiti's, an Adivasi organisation.
They demanded that the Tahsildar arrest all the alleged perpetrators that they had identified and that their cash including the bus fare, be returned to them.
At about 10.30 a.m. on December 7, the Chasi Mulia Samiti had a public rally in the town's weekly market premises where around 8,000 individuals from 150 villages took part.
They then went the local police station and demanded that two men who had been arrested be produced to be prosecuted in a people's court.
They encircled the station from 11 am to 2 pm and left with a warning that if there was no solution by 8 December, the people would take matters into their own hands.
According to the All India Federation of Democratic Rights Organizations, the tribal people had gathered without any representatives of the Chasi Mulia Samiti.
While, the Chasi Mulia Samiti blamed the local leaders of RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of having seized the opportunity to terrorize the Christian community using the excuse of Jaya Singh.
[16] Local people said that the BJP leaders were instrumental in burning down the Christian settlement and the culprits were free even after they had reported to the civil administration and the police.
[17] Chief Minister Giridhar Gomang told the State Assembly in March 1999 that a single-man commission, led by retired Judge from Orissa High Court Kishore Chandra Jagdeb Ray, will investigate the issue.
[6] According to the All India Federation of Organizations for Democratic Rights, the agitation of the tribal people was combined with this mob assault on Christians in the media coverage of the event.
[14] The investigation by the All India Federation of Organizations for Democratic Rights concluded that the murder of the jail inmates was not communal in nature as Jaya Singh was a Christian and the other man was a Hindu.
[5][6] Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that the violence was a very serious incident and said it was a warning to the whole nation.