Rayagada: A few hours after security force jawans killed a Maoist in an encounter near Dangamati village inside Niyamgiri forest under Kalyanpur police limits in the district, ultras abducted two youths of the Dongria Kondh community of the same village branding them as police informers.
The Maoist had been killed in the wee hours of Saturday while the left wing extremists (LWEs) lifted the youth in the evening. Panic gripped the Dongria Kondh community.
The kidnapped youths were identified as Shyam Sikka of Dangamati under Kalyansinghpur police station and Ludu Wadka of Khambesi village under Bissamkatak police station.
Residents of the area said it must be a handiwork of LWEs, who create a reign of terror by organising a series of violent activities. Families and relatives of the two youths have been searching for the youth. However, they failed to get any clues till this report was filed.
When contacted, police said investigations were on and measures were being taken to trace the youths. Meanwhile, security forces launched an extensive combing operation in the area to nab the Maoists.
The Maoist had been killed when a combing operation was on in the area by the security forces led by Rayagada SP K Siba Subramnani. The BSF and district voluntary force came across a Maoist camp inside the forest when at least 20 rebels opened fire at the police. The security forces retaliated and the rebel was killed.
The security forces recovered two 9 MM pistols, a gun and a huge cache of explosives from the encounter spot after the Maoists dispersed into the dense forest.
Sources said the rebels who fled the spot in the face of a heavy encounter later arrived at the village and abducted the tribal youths branding them as police informers.
In another incident, the ultras had killed a youth identified as Biswanath Khila of Handikhal village under Chitrakonda police station in Malkangiri district late Friday night suspecting him to be a police informer.
Four years ago, they had killed his father Manik Khila, who worked as a village guard, for the same reason.
PNN
