With the police burying bodies of eight Maoists four days after they were killed in an encounter in Malkangiri district, the villagers in Padia block, where the encounter had taken place, continue to live in fear.
The local people, particularly at Silakota village near which a total of 13 Maoists, including a woman, were gunned down by the police, feel insecure and apprehend that the Red rebels can strike anytime.
“We are panicked and we have sent our children to our relatives’ villages as the Maoist may take retaliatory courses. The ultras think that the residents of Silakota informed the police about their camp in the nearby jungle,” said a villager. A few days earlier, the Maoists had eliminated a villager suspecting him as a police informer, the villager pointed out.
Demanding a permanent camp of security forces in their area, the villagers said it is now the duty and responsibility of the police to ensure safety of the residents of Silakota and nearby areas.
Though the Kalimela Dalam of the Maoists is on low key now, their counterparts are active in other parts of Malkangiri district ad may target the villagers, the villagers said.
The police on Tuesday buried the bodies of the eight unidentified Maoists while five the bodies of the other five ultras who were identified by villagers were cremated in the presence of their family members and magistrates. Those identified were Padia Padiami, Ram Kabasi, Irma Padiami, Mangala Padiami and Rama Urmami.
“All the slain Maoists hailed from the Marigeta region and were members of the Kalimela Dalam,” Malkangiri SP Akhileshwar Singh said.