BIJAPUR: Naxals have claimed they have killed 25 people for being informers in Chhattigarh's Bijapur district, while police have said the ultras were targeting innocent tribals as support for their movement in the Bastar region has eroded sharply.
In a purported statement being circulated on social media since Thursday, Maoists said police was spreading an informer network in Gangaloor and other areas of Bijapur and poor tribals were troubled due to such activities.
"Therefore, they were sentenced after holding jan adalat (Naxal kangaroo court) and eliminated.
Among those who were killed, 12 were gopniya sainik (worked with police as informers), five were coverts and eight police informants," the release stated, though it did not specify the time period when the hits were carried out.
Modiyam Vijja, West Bastar DVCM (divisional committee member) was among those killed, as he was "a covert for the police since the last two years and had caused huge loss to the outfit", said the two-page statement, issued in the name of Vikalp, "spokesperson" of the self-styled Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Maoists.
The Naxals accused the Bastar IG and SPs of Bijapur and Dantewada of creating this web of informers in south Bastar.
Police officials said these killings have taken place in the past two months, including an incident last week where the ultras shot dead six of their colleagues, prime among them being senior cadre Vijja.
Seven villagers were also killed by Naxals in separate areas of Bijapur in September, police said.
Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundarraj P said the outlawed Maoist movement is nearing its end due to the huge anti-Naxal sentiment building up among tribals in the region.
"The fear of getting extinct is very much evident in the activities of the outlawed CPI (Maoist).
Having lost public support due to their misdeeds, the Naxal leadership is now clueless and directionless," the IG said.