Nagpur: A 45-year-old tribal farmer was shot dead by Maoists of Chatgaon Area Committee at Horekasa village of Dhanora tehsil in northern Gadchiroli shortly after Friday midnight. The CPI (Maoist) had apparently accused the deceased Pandurang Pada as a police informer who had tipped off the security forces resulting in the encounter death of Rajitha in May last year.
Police recovered several pamphlets of the Maoists in their traditional red ink from the village. They claimed that they were delivering a ‘death sentence’ to Pada. Rajita was a former Area committee secretary.
Sources from the district said Pada was asleep in his hut along with wife and daughter when the armed red guerrillas, dressed in olive greens, barged in and dragged him out. Pada’s wife and daughter tried to put up a resistance and even pleaded with the cadres to spare his life. The noise also alerted Pada’s neighbours who too tried to stop the cadres.
But the Maoists took him into the adjoining forest and shot him. Pada’s lifeless body with bullet and weapon injuries was found by the villagers. The cadres had already left the place.
Rajita, known for her leadership skill, was trapped in a house where she had come for a night halt. She had staved off the advances of the security forces for around 10 hours fighting single-handedly. Several grenades were lobbed into the house which resulted in her death. Later, police recovered a half-burnt body from the house.
Meanwhile, the fact-finding team of human rights activists reached Gadchiroli from Chandrapur. The members have split into two teams. The members are headed towards Kasnasur-Boriya and Nainer where the encounters that killed 40 Maoists took place on April 22 and 23. They also plan to meet Gadchiroli SP Abhinav Deshmukh on Monday.
Deshmukh said that they would place the facts before the team in writing.