PATNA: A jawan of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) was shot dead outside his home by Maoists in Jamui district of Bihar as the rebels believed he was a police informer.
Sikandar Yadav, 30, who was working with SSB's 48th battalion in Jaynagar in Madhubani district, was dragged out of his house and shot dead with AK-47 guns, said DSP Ram Pukar Singh on Tuesday.
The cold-blooded murder was perpetrated by a group of about 20 Maoists, some of them women, at Pondeythika village under Barhat police station on Monday night. The Maoists, dressed in police uniforms, knocked on Yadav's door. When he came out, the rebels tied up his hands and feet, dragged him outside the house and shot him dead, said police sources.
While leaving the village, the Maoists chanted slogans, including "Death for all police informers," said sources. Yadav had come home on leave on September 15 and had been busy organising birthday celebrations for his five-year-old daughter, said sources. After the incident, police forces were sent to the village.
Four southern districts in Bihar - Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui and Lakhisarai - are among the country's 30 districts most affected by left-wing extremism. Two districts, Nawada and Muzaffarpur, shed the "worst-hit" tag in the home ministry's latest assessment in April.
Efforts by paramilitary forces and the state police to tackle Maoist violence in Bihar have shown positive results. With a marked reduction in incidents of violence perpetrated by the left-wing insurgents, Bihar is now ranked fifth among Maoist-affected states, below Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Maharashtra.
In the Union home ministry's rankings last year, Bihar was ranked third. During the first six months of this year, Bihar witnessed only 33 incidents of Maoist violence, according to the ministry's half-yearly review.