The Kumbhariput-Rayagada road, which links several villages of Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks of Koraput district with Rayagada town, was blocked by the locals of Kumbhariput and its peripheral villages on Friday protesting the killing of local contractor and landlord Balaram Dalai by four teenaged half-pant-clad boys, believed as child soldiers of Maoists.
The boys came with pistols and shot at Dalai from a close range when he was signing a document given by a woman for her child’s admission in school. Dalai was the president of the School Management Committee (SMC). A letter written in Telugu and signed by Maoist leader Daya was left near Dalai’s corpse. Police came next day.
According to locals, Dalai during his youth exploited the tribals in many ways including usurping their lands at throwaway prices. He also had a tribal concubine and never recognised her as his wife and her grownup girl child as his daughter. But of late, he allied with local tribal leaders and led a sort of reformed life. Though Dalai belonged to Kumbhariput, a few years back he shifted to Rayagada town for his children’s education but continued taking contracts in Kumbhariput.
He had just returned after paying wages to his labourers at nearby Tikarapada village and was about to leave for Rayagada when he was shot dead by young ultras near the old lAMPS building. Killing a person like Dalai who had reformed his life by the Maoists’ child soldiers was disapproved by tribals, who blocked the road en masse.