Maoists brand tribal as police informer, kill him

RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Suspected Maoists killed a tribal in the Maoist-affected Chintur area of Alluri Sitarama Raju late Wednesday night after branding him as a police informer. According to Chintur circle inspector Appala Naidu, about 10 Maoists went to the house of the victim Soyam Subbaiah in Juvvigudem village in Chintur mandal. Later, they rounded up Subbaiah and allegedly thrashed him to death with sticks.

Police suspect the Maoists came from the Kunta area in Chhattisgarh. According to police, Maoists killed Subbaiah suspecting him as a police informer. In the letter purportedly left by the Maoists, it was alleged that Subbaiah was working as a police informer for the past five years. The letter read that the Maoists had warned Subbaiah to mend his ways several times, but in vain.

Police suspect that Maoists believed Subbaiah passed on crucial information to the police sometime back leading to the alleged fake encounter of a Maoist cadre. “Subbaiah was an active police informer and we wanted to punish him,’’ the Maoists said in their letter.

On receiving the information, Chintur police rushed to the spot and shifted the body to a government hospital for postmortem. Police launched combing operations in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana borders following the murder. MLAs and public representatives were warned against venturing into Maoists-affected areas without intimating the police. Chintur police are investigating the case.