About 20 Maoists had entered the village in the early hours of the day and beat up the excavator driver and three labourers before setting on fire the equipment of a private construction company who had undertaken a road project under the Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojana, he said.
The Maoists before leaving demanded levy for allowing the construction of the road construction project and told the construction employees to inform their employers.
A case has been registered and investigation into the incident is on, the SDPO said.