MALKANGIRI:Throwing a serious challenge to security forces, the Left Wing Extremists gunned down a launch driver at Chitrakonda reservoir in the district in broad daylight on Sunday.After killing the 45-year-old Sama Pangi, who used to deliver provisions to the camp of the Border Security Force (BSF) located at Kunturpadar inside the reservoir, the Maoists sped away with the launch.
The daring act took place at about 11 am at Chitrakonda’s spillway launch ghat where about a dozen shops are located. The Maoists, about eight of them, arrived at the ghat in a boat. Two of them got down and shot at Pangi killing him on the spot. There was a small crowd present at the ghat when the incident occurred.
After killing Pangi, the two took control of the launch which was stocked with provisions for the security forces and drove it away while six others followed them in their boat. Sources said Koraput dalam chief of CPI (Maoist) Uday was leading the operation.
A native of Jantri village, on the other side of the reservoir, Pangi is survived by two wives and seven children. He was staying at spillway with his family members as he was in the Maoist hit list. The gruesome murder of the launch driver is stated to be the first daylight crime committed by the rebels in recent times.
While Pangi is believed to have been targeted on the pretext that he was a police informer, the Maoists have posed a bigger challenge by showing that they are now comfortable in operating in the water ways.
On October 16, the Maoists had looted provisions from two boats near Kotagoda ghat. The Red rebels have been increasingly making use of boats for their movement in the cut-off region.
This is the second killing by the CPI (Maoist) in as many days. On Saturday, they had killed another person on Kandhamal-Kalahandi border during one-day bandh call over the gangrape of a tribal girl of Koraput.