On 5 August 2023 two activists, Krushna Sikaka and Bari Sikaka from the organisation Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti (NSS), were abducted by plainclothes policemen after having visiting been to Lanjigarh haat in the Kalahandi district of India. They had met with villagers to organise activities for World Indigenous Day on 9 August. NSS is led by the members of the affected communities who have been organising themselves for two decades against bauxite mining in Odisha, including proposed projects by Vedanta Resources, Adani Group and Hindalco.

A Habeas Corpus petition was filed in the High Court against the disappearance of the two human rights defenders. As a result, the police released Bari Sikaka and arrested Krushna Sikaka under a charge from 2018, despite having previously denied knowledge of their whereabouts.

Since August 2023, members of the NSS have been disappeared, arbitrarily detained and have been victims of police raids. This includes the accusation of "unlawful assembly" against Ladda Sikaka, Drenju Krushka, Manu Sikaka, Samba Huikia, Lingaraj Azad, Gobinda Bag, Upendra Bag, British Naik and Lenin Kumar for protesting against the abduction of Krushna Sikaka and Bari Sikaka, and the detention of Dhanful Majhi, Sitaram Majhi and Anil Nayak on 16 August 2023.

In April 2024, the Resource Centre invited Hindalco Industries, Vedanta Resources, and Adani Group to respond to its "People under pressure: Human rights defenders & business in 2023" report, which includes information about attacks on HRDs opposing bauxite mining in Odisha. All three companies responded and denied the allegations.