Maoists gun down tribal man in Odisha

Maoists gunned down a tribal man at a village in Odisha's Kandhamal district early on Friday suspecting him to be a police informer, police said. Over 15 armed Maoists stormed the man's house at Budurumaha village under the jurisdiction of K Nuagan police station in the wee hours, dragged him out and killed the 35- year-old Ranjan Digal, the police said.

The Maoists dumped Digal's body near a primary school on the outskirts of the village. Residents of the village later spotted his body, the Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Balliguda, Manas Ranjan Barik, said. A police team has been sent to the spot, he added. The assailants have left behind some posters through which they claimed that Digal was eliminated because he was operating as a police informer.

The superscription in the posters indicated that the red rebels belonged to the Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division of the Maoists, the police officer said. Combing operation and patrolling in the area has been intensified after the incident, the police officer said, adding, an investigation has been initiated.