Incensed by penetration of police and security forces in to their fiefdom, all the inner hamlets of Bijapur, Sukma, Narayanpur (Abujhmad) and other parts of Bastar, where Maoists ruled the roost, the Red rebels have resorted to persecution of villagers with a view not only to make them swallow the diktats of the insurgents but also to keep them away from the exposure of security forces.
And in this series, the Maoists allegedly killed at least two persons including a public representative during the last ten days besides driving out about 17 families, some of them belonging to police jawans, from their respective villages accusing them of being police informer.
According to sources, Maoist insurgents had abducted deputy Sarpanch of Kudur Gram Panchayat in Kondagaon district Janadhar Kashyap, husband of Sarpanch Jhitki Bai Budru and Assistant of lakhapur Anganwadi Centre a week ago. Though two of the abducted persons were set free, the Rebels killed Janadhar Kashyap, body of whom was found on the main road Wednesday. In another incident, the insurgents killed a villager identified as Kursam Shankar and also threw his body on the road in Tadlaguda area of Bijapur district bordering Andhra Pradesh.
The Maoists also allegedly issued a diktat asking five families of Bhattiguda and Farsapalli villages belonging to Punnam Dashrath, Punnam Baburao, Punnam Samaiyya, Punnam Chandraiyya and Punnam Ramesh to leave their respective villages accusing them of being police informer. About 10 families of Annaram village of Bijapur district also reported to have fled the area after Maoists issued threat to them in a meeting. These families are reportedly taking shelter in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal said that due to several setbacks and effective operations of district police in Bastar area the Rebels are afraid and have started losing faith in villagers. This is why, by visiting village to village they are issuing diktats to villagers and forcing them to follow or else leave the village.
Agrawal said that Annaram village incident of 10-12 families fleeing their village was true but as these families did not lodge report with the police, the administration has no definite information about their whereabouts. According to him, there was also report that some of the families of Bhattiguda and Farsapalli also deserted their villages in fear of Maoist persecution. Other residents of those villages are so terrorised that they are not coming forward to say anything about the families which left the villages, he added.
Meanwhile, the district administration has decided to send a team to those villages and after enquiry submit its report to the collector at the earliest.