RAYAGADA: Maoists on Saturday abducted two Dongria Kondh youths of Rayagada district suspecting them to be police informers. The abduction comes within 24 hours of the gruesome murder of Biswanath Khilla, whom the Maoists killed after branding him as a police informer in a ‘praja court’, in Malkangiri district on Friday night.
The abducted Dongria Kondhs are Syama Sikaka (24) of Dangamati village under Kalyansinghpur police limits and Ludu Wadeka (25) of Khambesi village under Bissamcuttack police limits.
Though police claimed that they have no information on the abduction and no FIR has been lodged, sources said a group of Maoists descended on Khambeshi village and asked Ludu, at gun point, to follow them. Later, six of them dragged Ludu out of his house around 3.30 pm. They took him to the forest in Niyamgiri hills despite pleas by Ludu’s mother to spare him.
Fear has gripped the villagers and they are not willing to comment on the incident, police said.
Rayagada SP K Siba Subramani said combing operation against the Maoists will be intensified as a coordinated action plan is being launched to counter resurgence of Maoists in different parts of the district. There will be no let-up on the onslaught against extremists after Saturday’s success.
On Saturday, DVF and police teams, led by the Rayagada SP, recovered huge haul of arms and ammunition from a camp near Dangamati village in Niyamgiri hills during a combing operation. This is being considered the first successful operation in the region in the last three years and a major success for Odisha Police as Maoists are trying to create a corridor through Rayagada-Kandhamal-Kalahandi districts to connect Chhattisgarh.
About 40 members were present in the camp and in the exchange of fire, a middle-aged cadre was killed.
Sources said the group was being commanded by Bauri Bandhu Sethi alias Sukhdev alias Bunty who was present at the camp. Bunty heads Bansdhara-Ghumsar Division of CPI(Maoist) and operates a group of about 46 cadres.