Four villagers were killed by Maoists in two separate incidents in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker and Bijapur districts on the suspicion of being police informers, officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.
According to the officials, in the first incident, which took place in Kanker, three people– Kulle Katlami (35), Manoj Kovachi (22) and Dugge Kovachi (27), all residents of Morkhandi village, were killed by Maoists in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
Maoists also threw pamphlets in which they claimed that the trio were acting as informers for C-60, an anti-Naxal unit of the Maharashtra police, said officials mentioned above.
In the second incident in Bijapur, a 40-year-old man was also killed by Maoists on suspicion of being a police informer, they said.
Officials said that the Maoists strangled to death Muchaki Linga of Galgam on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, and later his body was thrown on the roadside between Galgam and Nadpalli villages.
Following the incidents of killing, security forces have launched a combing operation in the region to trace the Maoists, said officials.
{{/usCountry}}Following the incidents of killing, security forces have launched a combing operation in the region to trace the Maoists, said officials.
{{/usCountry}}Bijapur and Kanker are among the 20 assembly constituencies that will go to polls in the first phase of two-phased state assembly elections on November 7. Polling for the remaining 70 of the total 90 seats will be held in the second phase on November 17.
Bijapur district apart, elections in the first phase will also be held in the Naxal-hit Bastar division and four other districts, including Rajnandgaon, Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Kabirdham and Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai districts on November 7.
In the last four decades, Maoists have killed over 1,700 innocent civilians along with the destruction of public properties worth crores of rupees, according to the police.
The native population of Bastar is frustrated and annoyed with the destructive attitude of Naxals and they are looking forward to a positive environment, a top police official said.