Man hacked to death by suspected Maoists in Odisha's Kandhamal

BERHAMPUR: The cold-blooded murder of a 43-year-old villager by suspected Maoists here on Sunday has left Kandhamal in panic. The deceased was identified as Ramesh Nayak (43). Sources said the Maoists took Ramesh to the nearby Pati jungle in the morning further threatening the villagers not to follow them. Few hours later when some of the locals went to the jungle, they found Ramesh dead lying in a pool of blood near Hatapada, an area adjacent to the jungle.

The Maoists suspecting Ramesh to be a police informer, had earlier warned him to not to contact police about their activities, sources added. A letter was also found from the crime site the writings of which were not clear.Contacted, southern range inspector general Satyabrata Bhoi said police is investigating the matter.

“This is the second murder on the suspicion of being police informers,” Bhoi said adding, in October another man Nilakantha Malik of Kunasalu village within Baliguda police limits, was in a similar way killed on the suspicion of being a police informer.In the last two months, three women Maoists were killed in two separate incidents during exchange of fire with security forces.