BHUBANESWAR: In what could be a sign of worry for left wing extremists, revolting villagers lynched three Maoists after the former killed a priest in a village near the Odisha-Andhra border on Sunday.
The incident occurred in Andhra Pradesh territory, a few km across the border from Raleguda gram panchayat in Malkangiri district’s Chitrakonda block.
Residents of Viravaram village under Chintapali mandal of Andhra Pradesh acted, after Maoists came to know that G Sanjeeva Rao, 38, was shot dead after being branded as “police informer” at a praja court on Sunday.
About 400 villagers converged at the place where the Maoists were holding the meeting and attacked the rebels. Three Maoists were lynched, while seven others were reportedly injured in the incident. Those lynched were Maoist divisional committee member Sarath and cadre Palasa Ganapathi and Nageswara Rao. An AK-47 rifle recovered from them was handed to the police.
Odisha Police sources said a group of bike-borne Maoists had picked up Rao and another villager from Johar Ghati around 4.30 pm on Sunday. They were taken to a forested area, where a praja court was held and Rao was declared a “police informer”.