Maoist militants have killed three villagers and abducted five others from Kasansur village of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. Bodies of the three deceased villagers were found near Kosfundi Fata on Tuesday (January 22) morning.
A banner had been put up by Maoists at the spot which read the deceased villagers were responsible for the deaths of 40 Maoist cadres who were killed in encounters. The banner put up by Maoists stated that the three had been awarded capital punishment for being police informers.
Maoists, reportedly, abducted eight villagers from Kasansur of which three were killed on suspicion of being police informers. The three deceased have been identified as Mallu Madavi, Kannu Madavi and Lalsu Kudyeti.
Fate of the remaining five villagers remains unknown while Gadchiroli police has launched a search to trace the abducted villagers.
Forty Maoists were killed in two encounters last year on April 22 and 23 in the jungles of Kasansur in Bhamragad taluka of Gadchiroli district. The encounters led to near wipe out of Maoists in the district.
Post the encounter, the central committee of banned organisation, CPI (Maoist), changed the leadership last year. Ganpati, who had been leading the central committee, was replaced by Basavraju.
Last month, Maoists had torched construction vehicles worth Rs 3 crore in the district but this incident could be the first violent act of Basavraju in Maharashtra.
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