New Delhi: In back to back incidents, showcasing the grim reality of Maoist-hit landscapes, cadres of the banned Maoist outfits executed two unarmed civilians in separate incidents that unfolded in Jharkhand’s Chatra and Maharastra’s Gadchiroli district .
According to the details, 4-5 armed Maoist cadres kidnapped a social worker Vishnu Sav on Sunday morning February 2 and took him to the nearby forest area where they shot him dead. Vishnu was also attacked with sharp edged weapons before the extremist fired shots on him and fled the scene.
Vishnu, a resident of Lembua village under Maoist-hit Tandwa police station limits was a witness in a terror funding case being investigated by National Investigation Agency (NIA), involving cadres of the banned Maoist outfit Tritiye Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TSPC).
The police after receiving information about Vishnu’s abduction, launched an extensive search operation in the nearby forest area during which his body was recovered near Chatra-Latehar border. The deceased was said to be a social worker who was on radar of Maoists.
Former Panchayat Committee head killed in Gadchiroli
In a similar incident reported from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, a former Panchayat Samiti head was also strangled to death by the members of banned group CPI (Maoist).
The horrifying incident unfolded on late Saturday night, February 1 at Kier village under Bhamragadh block of south Gadchiroli, leaving the residents in a state of panic. The deceased civilian was identified as Sukhdev Mandavi (45), a former head of Bhamragarh Panchayat Samiti.
According to the reports, the extremists have also dropped a note near Mandavi’s body, accusing him to be an informer of the police. The cold-blooded murder of the civilian marks first such incident occurred in the Gadchiroli district this year.
Refuting the allegations of Mandavi being an informer of the police, the officials have now launched a probe into the matter.
Notably, targeted killing of civilians by Maoists in remote areas are a regular occurrence, highlighting the chilling reality of such distant localities marred by Maoist-insurgency. Significantly, over 60 such killings were recorded in Maoist-hit areas of Bastar division of Chhattisgarh in 2024 alone, signifying the severity of the situation in core Maoist zones.
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