Maoists turn supari killers in Chhattisgarh's conflict-ridden Bastar district

RAIPUR: The outlawed CPI (Maoist) makes a tidy sum by hiring out its cadre as contract killers who target individuals in exchange of money in the conflict zone of Bastar, south Chhattisgarh.

The rebels, besides attacking people whom they suspect to be police supporters or informers, are now taking supari (contract for killing) from civilians to eliminate those who may not necessarily be hostile to the Naxals.

Four persons arrested in the strife-torn Kondagaon district, some 250 km south of Raipur, revealed that they had entered into a deal with the Naxalites to eliminate former Sarpanch Raijju Korram (58).

The Deputy Sarpanch of Aadnar panchayat, Sonadhar, who was arrested along with Jamdhar Korram, Bargum Korram and Libra Netam, confessed that he hired the Maoists to kill Raijju as they failed to get the government tender on construction works.

“The disgruntled group contacted the Maoists and offered them Rs 10,000 to execute Raijju Korram who secured a go-ahead for the allotted government project”, Kondagaon Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava, told TNIE.

Contract killings by Maoists might have happened in the past but police didn’t have concrete evidence. This is the first time authorities in Kondagaon have established that Maoists have donned the role of supari killers.

“We are surprised that Maoists are now being hired as contract killers as they were known to deliver their own system of justice through Kangaroo courts, meting out punishment to civilians, as they discouraged the villagers from approaching law enforcing agencies or the court,” Pallava added.

With normalcy returning to most parts of Bastar zone earlier dominated by the Maoists, and with people approaching the police to resolve their complaints, the Red Brigade has reason to worry. “Killing the villagers in tribal hamlets is not a big deal for Maoists and they are now murdering civilians for the sake of money and create terror,” the Kondagaon SP said.