Maoists staying in Sunabeda sanctuary of Nuapada district killed a villager of Dhobghat village on Monday suspecting him as a police informer.
Gajapati Majhi (28), son of Kumar Majhi, was taken by the Maoists at midnight from his village to the forest near the village Kuimunda and was gunned down the following day evening after holding a Praja court. The Maoists left posters near the body which states that it was a death punishment.
Dhobghat is one of the tribal hamlets of Sunabeda-Patdarha plateau area located at a height of about 3,000 feet from sea level. The area is covered with deep forest and to reach these villages, one has to walk through the hilly tracts. Such topographical features of the plateau have provided a free haven to the Maoists to hide from the police forces of Odisha and Chhatishgarh. For these reasons, the police have never been able to do any harm to them in the Patdarha area since the beginning of their anti-insurgency operation.
It was learnt from the villagers that the Maoists had earlier warned Gajapati not to help police. Gajapati left the village after that warning and was staying at Boden. He visited the village on Sunday to attend a marriage of one of his relatives. “The Maoists caught hold of him when he went home to sleep after drinking and dancing in the marriage party,” reported the villagers. The villagers further informed that, Gajapati conceded in the meeting of Maoists which ran from 8 in the morning till late evening that, he was being paid Rs 3,000 per month by the police.
When the people pleaded before the Maoists for the life of Gajapati, the Maoists made one condition that, the villagers would have to take responsibility for the fault of Gajapati in future. “How can we assure that Gajapati would not leave village at any cost, so we remained silent,” said the villagers.
The body was brought to Boden police station by the villagers as police could not move to the spot.