RAIPUR: Maoists brutally thrashed around two dozen villagers, suspecting them to be police informers, in a kangaroo court organised in the forested terrain of Kuakonda block in strife-torn Dantewada district, about 450 km south of Raipur.
Later, they abducted six villagers from Kidriras village, presuming them to be police supporters.
“Nearly twenty rebels led by Maoist leader Gundadhur and Malangir area committee member Pradeep stormed into the villages of Fulpad, Kidriras and nearby hamlets and organised a jan adalat — their way of on-the-spot trial — inside the jungle and battered the inhabitants of the villages after handpicking them. The condition of 11 is stated to be serious”, a villager told the police, who took the injured to a hospital for treatment.
The injured villagers were initially hesitant to seek treatment in a hospital fearing the rebels.
“The Naxals have also warned us not to seek any help from the police”, said a critically injured Kuma Podiami. The police, who had to convince the villagers to get treatment, arranged an ambulance to take the injured to the district hospital.
“There is a report of six villagers being taken away by the Naxalites. Several tribals were cruelly beaten up. After getting the information, we assisted in getting those injured admitted in a hospital. The Maoists are terribly frustrated at losing their cadres who are surrendering or have been arrested, and are also failing to keep up their mass support. They are cowards and are behaving ruthlessly towards innocent people”, the Dantewada superintendent of police Abhishek Pallav told TNIE.
The Naxalites have lost over ninety cadres during encounters with security forces this year in Chhattisgarh.
The security forces have launched a search operation to trace the abducted villagers. Dantewada is among the worst Maoist-affected districts in the conflict zone of Bastar, south Chhattisgarh.