Maoists abduct, kill Odisha police officer

His body was recovered from Sunabeda forest

Maoists in Nuapara district in western Odisha, which borders Chhattisgarh, kidnapped a police officer on Tuesday and brutally killed him inside a reserve forested area. The incident  has sent fresh shockwaves across the state.

The incident took place just days after the two high profile kidnappings of Italian nationals and Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka by the Naxals in Kandhamal and Koraput districts, respectively.

Police sources said around 30 armed Maoists kidnapped the assistant sub inspector (ASI) Kruparam Majhi, a tribal, near a village in the outskirts of Sunabeda reserve forest when he was escorting a water tanker to a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) camp,  about 15 km away.

“Majhi was on a motor cycle escorting a tractor carrying a water tanker when he was kidnapped at gun point,” said Director-General of Police Manmohan Praharaj. A constable who was with the ASI and the tractor driver managed to flee from the spot. Before leaving the place with the police officer,  the Left wing extremists set the tractor on fire.
The Central Reserve Police Force and the local police immediately launched a combing operation in the area.

Nearly four hours after his abduction, Majhi’s bullet-ridden body was found inside the Sunabeda forest with his hands and legs tied up.

 “He was brutally murdered”, the DG Praharaj said.

The 45-year-old Majhi was attached to a police outpost near the Sunabeda forest — notorious for Naxal activities. Last year, a forester was killed by the Naxals at the same spot. The  Maoists had also kidnapped and killed a panchyat samiti member early this year in the same area.

Though no Naxal groups have so far claimed the responsibility for the incident, local police suspect that members of Maoists’ Mainpur division, active in the border areas of Odisha and Chhattisgarh, could be behind this gruesome killing. The newly created Naxal division mostly consists of Maoists from Chhattisgarh.

Reacting strongly into the incident, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said: “We are extremely disturbed over the barbaric and savaged killing of the AIS. Strongest possible action will be taken against the people responsible for the incident”.

If sources in the state home department here are to be believed, the Union Home Ministry has already sought a detailed report from the state government on the incident.