PHULBANI/BERHAMPUR: In yet another incident of Maoist violence in Odisha ahead of the panchayat elections, the Naxals reportedly killed a man in Kandhamal district suspecting him to be a police informer on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as 30-year-old Kapila Majhi of Guma village under Bhandrangi panchayat within Tumudibandh police limits. Sources said Majhi was kidnapped by a group of at least 10 armed Maoists from his home late in the night on Monday. The rebels slit his throat before leaving the village. Majhi’s body was recovered in the morning. The Maoists also left some posters near his body.
Following the incident, villagers of Guma were so panicked that not a single person came of the house till Tuesday afternoon. Some of the villagers informed their relatives about the killing over phone following which a police team reached the spot and recovered the body.
Police said investigation into the matter is underway. The administration has tightened security in Tumudibandh block which will go to polls on February 18. Last year, Maoists had killed the son of Bhandrangi sarpanch and another youth. Since then, the sarpanch has left Bhandrangi and is living in an unknown place.
On February 10 this year, 20-year-old Priyaranjan Kanhar was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by the Naxals at Kiamunda village in Kandhamal. The youth was passing on Sadinga-Kiamunda road within Phringia police limits when he accidentally stepped on the IED, suspected to be planted by Maoists, and was killed on the spot.
The site was near the spot where two JCB machines of a construction company were reportedly torched by Maoists in the night on February 7. On February 5, a journalist working with a vernacular daily was killed in an IED blast triggered by Maoists in Madanpur Rampur block of Kalahandi district.