Naxals kill tribal man on suspicion of being police informer

Naxals have shot dead a 22-year-old tribal man and injured his friend after branding them as police informers in Balaghat district, police said today.
"Around 20-25 ultras belonging to 'Malanjkhand Area Dalam', led by their 'commander' Deepak, kidnapped Surendra Dhurve (22) and Rajkumar Dhurve (27) late on Friday night," Balaghat Additional Superintendent of Police, Neeraj Soni told PTI.
"They shot at both of them in Navi village last night. Surendra died in the firing, while Rajkumar sustained injuries in the incident. He survived as the Maoists left the spot assuming that he had died," Soni said.
Rajkumar managed to reach Malanjkhand police station and narrated the incident, the ASP said.

The Naxals also left behind pamphlets stating that 'police informers will meet with the same fate', the officer said adding neither Surendra nor Rajkumar were their informers "as per our records".
According to sources, Naxals suspected that information on their movement in jungles bordering Navi village was passed on to police by Surendra and Rajkumar ahead of the April 7 encounter in which one of the ultras was hurt.
Meanwhile, a combing operation was launched to flush out the ultras and nearly 150 security personnel are part of it.