Maoists kill three in Odisha

 After a bit of a lull, Maoist violence erupted once again in Odisha’s Malkangiri district late on Sunday night, as armed Maoists killed three villagers in three different villages under the Malta police station. All three victims were tribals.

Armed Left-wing ultras shot them dead after branding them police informers. On the crime spots, the Maoists left behind posters and letters written in Hindi and Odia, warning villagers not to go against them. The police seized the material and began an investigation.

The police suspect the crime to be the handiwork of Maoists from neighbouring Chhattisgarh. The south-western range police, which is currently conducting an operation along with paramilitary forces against Maoists in southern districts like Koraput and Malkangiri, rejected the ultras’ claim that the villagers eliminated by them were police informers.

“They had nothing to do with the police. All of them were common innocent villagers. The killings have once again demonstrated that the Maoists are anti-tribals,” Jaswant Jethwa, Inspector General of the Odisha police in charge of south-western range, said.

This is the first major incident of violence by Maoists in Malkangiri district since the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections held in the southern Odisha districts in the second week of this month.