For the first time, the Maoists on Thursday killed a villager in Angul district protesting security personnel’s anti-Maoist operation in the State. The body was found on Friday morning, police sources said. A gang of five armed Maoists arrived at Patamunda village under the Pallahara police limits at about 9 pm on Thursday in search of Samuel Bodra. After a brief search, they located Bodra, dragged him with them and hacked him to death with an axe after tying his hands and legs with a rope.
The villagers found the body with some Maoist posters near it on the outskirts of the village on Friday morning. The Kalinganagar-Ghumusar Divisional Committee of the CPI (Maoist) claimed through the poster that they killed Bodra suspecting him to be a police informer. After getting information from locals, the police rushed to the spot and took the body for post-mortem. Meanwhile, police have begun combing operation in Patamunda forest area to trace out the Maoists, sources said.
The fresh killing by the left Wing extremists proved their strong presence in the tribal belt of Angul district. Earlier, two men were kidnapped by the ultras in the same area last year. In another development, four Maoists, including three women cadres, surrendered before South Western Range IG YK Jethwa at Malkangiri on Friday. Among them, two were area commanders (ACMs) carrying a reward of Rs 4 lakh each on their head and other two were armed cadres carrying cash award of Rs 1 lakh each on the head, said Jethwa.
The two ACMs were identified as Manglu Podiami alias Pavan of Marigetta and Rame Madhi alias Anita of Kurub in Malkangiri district. While Manglu was working as leader of Gana Natya Sangha of Kalimela Area Committee under the Malkangiri division of the CPI (Maoist), Anita was a member of the first Central Regional Commission of the Maoist organisation.
The rest two were identified as Kunjam Raje alias Gita of Peta working for the Boipariguda Area Committee, and Gangi Kurami alias Sangeeta of Konta area in Chhattisgarh, said Malkangiri SP Mitra Bhanu Mohapatra. In yet another incident, a Special Operations Group (SOG) jawan was critically injured when a landmine went off at Kuabahali village under Turekela block in Balangir district on Thursday evening.
According to reports, SOG jawan Nasib Seth sustained critical injuries on his left leg during a combing operation. First, he was rushed to the Patnagarh hospital but later shifted to the VSS Medical College and Hospital at Burla as his condition deteriorated. Notably, the Maoists had set a JCB machine and a tractor on fire near Bhalumunda under the Turekela police station on January 6 protesting road construction work.