Nabarangpur: A man was reportedly shot dead by Maoists in Venus village under Raighar block in Nabarangpur district in the wee hours of Tuesday suspecting that he was a police informer. The deceased has been identified as Tunu Ganda.
Sources said a group of 20-25 Maoists entered the village and called Tuna out of his house. They took him to a forest near the village and shot him dead.
Before leaving, the extremists left a letter saying that they killed Tunu as he was informing the police about the movements of Maoists. “He was informing the police and was punished,” the letter read.
The poster alleged that the Nabarangpur SP had hired Tunu to gather information about Maoists on the Chhattisgarh border.
The left wing extremists also pasted letters on trees across Umerkote stating that Tunu had teamed up with the Nabarangpur SP. He had been doing this from 2015, and had been warned many times, the Maoists said in their letter.
“Last year, we held a Jan Adaalat with the villagers of Odisha and Chhattisgarh and told them not to work as police informers, but Tunu did not pay heed. That is why we executed him,” the letter concluded. It also warned the people who were acting as police informers of the same fate.
Police reached the village and launched a probe. The body was recovered and sent for autopsy.
Speaking about the incident, Umerkote SDPO Hemant Kumar Padhi said, “The police have reached the spot and launched an investigation. Initial reports indicate Maoist involvement.”
Meanwhile, a hardcore member of the Nandapur Area Committee — a Maoist organisation — was arrested by the Koraput police Monday. He was identified as Apana Seda.
Sources said the police were tipped-off about Seda’s presence in the area and they arrested him during a raid. Seda was involved in the murder of the Hatibari sarpanch in 2017, police said.
PNN
