At least 12 Dalit families have left their homes in Bihar’s Gaya district under fear of attacks by Maoists in the wake of the killing of four persons on suspicion of being police informers.
Police said the residents of Monwar village under the Maoist-hit-Dumaria police station, nearly 193km south-east of the state capital, have shifted to houses of relatives in adjoining villages after the Maoists killed two couples late on Saturday during a “jan adalat” (a kangaroo court of the Maoists), branding the four police informers.
The incident occurred at the same spot where an encounter took place on March 16, 2021 in which four Maoist commanders were killed by security forces.
The four victims shot dead and hanged by Maoists were identified as Mahendra Bhokta, his wife Manojwa Devi, his brother Satyendra Bhokta and his wife Sunita Devi. The Maoists ordered the Bhokta families and their sympathisers to leave the village and threatened if they failed to do so, they would face dire consequences. Following this, Mahendra’s mother Sukwaria Devi, father Saryug Singh Bhokta, his 10-year-old son, besides two nephews and a niece, shifted to a relative’s house at Chanchal-Goraiya village barely a kilometre away.
On Monday, when HT visited the village, the villagers were engaged in agriculture and other work, with no policeman in sight. A few men willing to talk admitted that those who fled were scared of both the police and the Maoists. B“...they killed four members and left a seven-page pamphlet there, stating the action was to avenge four of their commanders killed by the CoBRA battalion 205 at the same place,” one of victim’s family member, Babita Devi said.
{{/usCountry}}On Monday, when HT visited the village, the villagers were engaged in agriculture and other work, with no policeman in sight. A few men willing to talk admitted that those who fled were scared of both the police and the Maoists. B“...they killed four members and left a seven-page pamphlet there, stating the action was to avenge four of their commanders killed by the CoBRA battalion 205 at the same place,” one of victim’s family member, Babita Devi said.
{{/usCountry}}The Maoists alleged that their comrades were poisoned by the women.
Gaya SSP Aditya Kumar said a case had been lodged against 15 persons, including Vivek Yadav, Indal and 40 unknown Maoists on the basis of the statement of the deceased’s uncle Mangroo Bhokta. Asked about security arrangements, the SSP admitted that the family had shifted to another place.