A tribal sarpanch was killed by Maoists in Malkangiri district as the latter apparently suspected him of being a police informer on Thursday night. Police said on Friday that a group of Maoists struck at the house of Soumendra Beti, sarpanch of Materu gram panchayat in the Padia area, 40 km from here, and took him away late in night.
The bullet-ridden body of Beti, aged around 40 years, was found by villagers in a nearby forest on Friday morning. The Maoists were suspected to have sneaked in from Chhattisgarh. Beti’s statements had recently been recorded by a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with its probe into the Maoists’ attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh in May this year, sources said.
The assailants apparently suspected that Beti might have passed on some vital information about their activities and movements in the region to the NIA as well as the police, they added.