RANCHI: Supai Mutkan, 52, was killed by Maoists on Monday night on suspicion of being a police informer in West Singbhum. This is the third consecutive killing of a villager near Kolhan jungles of the district.
The incident took place at Rengdahatu village under Tonto police station where around 5-6 armed Maoist cadres barged into the house of Supai Mutkan and dragged him out to the courtyard and started thrashing him.
“While thrashing him with their boots and sticks, they alleged he was a regular police informer, and they then slit his throat with an axe,” said Supai’s older brother Jamadar Mutkan.
The brother said that he too was beaten by the Maoists and warned that he too would meet the same fate if found to be indulging in such activities, he added.
Earlier, on Sunday, a 45-year-old man, identified as Arjun Surin, was found dead near Rajabasa – Lawaveda village under the Goelkera police station area. According to villagers, his dead body was found hanging from a tree by the police on Monday morning.
Police, however, claimed that Arjun Surin was a Maoist supporter and had gone into the jungles to meet them and died while returning after he stepped on an IED planted by the Maoists.
An improvised explosive device planted by the red rebels to target the security forces accidentally went off, killing Surin, Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Sekhar said, while dismissing media reports that claimed that Surin was killed by the Maoists on suspicion of being a police informer.
"Surin was a Maoist supporter himself and was involved in providing logistical support to the rebels by being based in Vangram Rajabasa village," he said.
On Saturday night, a 65-year-old man Rando Surin was killed by the Maoists who slit his throat near Gitilpi Chowk under Goilkera police station. The Maoists left pamphlets along with his body saying that he has been punished for sharing information on them with the police.
Villagers claimed that both Arujun and Rando Surin were abducted by the Maoists around five days back.
Admitting that three deaths took place in the Kolhan jungles area in the last three days, the Police called them "act of cowardice."
"This is nothing but an act of cowardice by the CPI - Maoists apparently in repercussion against the regular police action being conducted in the region which has resulted in the destruction of many of their camps and recovery of huge arms and ammunitions,” West Singhbhum SP Ashutosh Shekhar said.
Notably, the state police have launched a joint operation in the Kolhan jungles after a tip-off that some of the senior Maoist leaders including Misir Besra and Patiram Majhi alias Anal Da are hiding out there.
Police said that their forces are advancing slowly into the jungles and have already established several temporary security camps in the core areas of the Maoists.
Meanwhile, the Maoists have planted IEDs to bar security forces from entering into the jungles due to which regular incidents of blasts are taking place during operations.
The Maoists recently distributed pamphlets in the villages adjacent to Kolhan jungles and warned villagers not to venture deep into the jungles warning as they could walk over an IED.
This is the 13th civilian murder - either killed by the Maoists or died due to IED blasts - in the past 10 months on the hilly terrain inside the Kolhan reserve forests of the district.