The Odisha Police on Sunday arrested four Maoists in connection with the murder of a villager.
Dambaru Nayak, 40, a resident of Kurub village in Malkangiri district, was killed by the Maoists on October 6, for working as a 'police informer'.
The accused are being interrogated in relation with the murder.
Police, however, said the deceased was not a police informer and was killed by the Maoists to spread terror.
Malkangiri Superintendent of Police (SP), Jagmohan Meena, said that the motive behind the murder was to spread terror among the people in the rural areas who have already rejected the Maoist ideology.
It may be recalled that Nayak's body showed signs of torture when it was recovered from the nearby forest area on the village outskirts on October 7 and the police are questioning the arrested Maoists about the whereabouts of the other accused in the crime.