RAIPUR: A group of Maoists allegedly killed a 38-year-old villager, after branding him as a leader of the erstwhile state-sponsored anti-Maoist movement 'Salwa Judum', in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district today.
The body of Kawasi Hadma, who was allegedly abducted by Maoists last month, was found near his native place in Milliampalli village under Jagargunda police station limits, Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Santosh Singh said.
The victim's body bore multiple injuries and his throat was slit with a sharp-edged weapon, Singh said.
According to villagers, Maoists stormed into the victim's house on September 16 in Milliampalli and allegedly kidnapped him.
After 20 days of abduction, Hadma's body was found lying in a pool of blood in the restive forest patch near his village today morning, the ASP said.
Maoist pamphlets recovered from the spot declared that he was assassinated because he allegedly worked as a 'Salwa Judum' leader and was responsible for the death of innocent tribals in the region, the ASP said.
Soon after being informed, security forces were immediately dispatched to the spot and Hadma's body was brought to Jagargunda, he said, adding that the body has been handed over to his relatives after autopsy.
'Salwa Judum', a state-sponsored anti-Maoist armed civilian vigilante militia, which had deployed tribal youth in the state, as "special police officers" in the fight against Maoist insurgency, was disarmed and disbanded in 2011, after a Supreme Court order declared it "illegal and unconstitutional".
In another incident, a wanted Maoist was arrested from Kerlapal forests under Sukma Kotwali police station limits.
Madkam Soma (25) was apprehended by a joint squad of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and district police force while the Maoist cadre was hiding in jungles to keep a tab on the movement of security forces, the ASP said.
Allegedly, Soma was involved in two cases of criminal offences in the region, he said.