RAIPUR: Maoists opposed to the Dallirajhara-Rowghat railway project in Kanker, in north Bastar zone of Chhattisgarh, shot dead the son of a contractor, thrashed labourers and set on fire four vehicles and a rail track laying machine at the project site.
Trees were being cut in the Tadoki-Rowghat region, where track laying work is underway. Forest department staff and the contractor’s workers had on Saturday gone to transport logs to the department’s depot, the police said.
“The Maoists brutally beat up the forest department staff and the contractor’s workers. They took away Ramesh Jain, the contractor’s 40-year-old son and later shot him dead. They told the workers that the forest belonged to the villagers and they should not return to work”, Kanker Superintendent of Police K L Dhruv told The New Indian Express.
The police have launched a search operation in the region, the SP said. The villagers were quoted as saying that around 40 rebels had assembled along with local tribals and beat up the workers. In a separate incident, four naxalites were arrested in restive Dantewada district.