“Five people were abducted by the Maoist rebels late Sunday night and were shot dead,” Jharkhand police spokesperson S.N. Pradhan said.

According to police, activists of banned group Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) raided Pundigiri village under Tamar block, 45 km from state capital Ranchi, abducted the five villagers and took them to a forest where they were shot dead.

The bodies were recovered Monday.

“The killed people had Maoist background. The activists killed them on suspicion of passing information about their movement to police,” said Pradhan.

Maoist rebels are active in 18 of the 22 districts of the state. Nearly 1,550 people have been killed in last eight years in Jharkhand in Maoist violence.