BERHAMPUR/PHULBANI: Panic gripped Kunasalu village in Kandhamal’s Baliguda after Maoists killed a local man on suspicion of being a police informer on Monday night.The deceased was identified as Nilakantha Mallick. Sources said a group of Maoists barged into Mallick’s house and dragged him outside claiming that he was informing police about their activities and movements. The ultras then took him to nearby forest.
Mallick’s body was later found in Tilak jungle under Pokharibandh reserve forest. He was reportedly battered to death with a stone. Sources said a blood stained stone was found near Mallick’s body.Posters and banners of Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division of the outlawed CPI Maoists were found near the body. In the posters, the rebels claimed responsibility of the killing. They also warned people against acting as police informers and threatened of dire consequences, if they did not follow their diktat.
Last week, a woman cadre was killed during an encounter between security forces and Maoists in Sindhi forest on Kandhamal-Kalahandi border. A huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized from the encounter spot. The Maoists claimed in the posters that killing of Nilakantha was part of their revenge against the police encounter in Sindhi forest. On being informed, police reached the village on Tuesday and launched investigation into the matter.
Later on the day, around 15 to 20 Maoist cadres reached the camp site of a construction company which is laying the road from Kateribhata Chowk to Pipali. Opposing the road construction work, the ultras torched two tractors, as many JCB machines and a mixture machine. Pipali village is situated around 10 km from Kunasalu. The two incidents of Maoist violence have put the Kandhamal administration on its toes.