In the first incident of villagers attacking Maoists ever since left wing extremists became active in Odisha in mid-90s, one Maoist involved in a series of crimes has been killed in Malkangiri district, a senior police officer said on Sunday.
Another Maoist was seriously injured in the incident.
A group of Maoists had come to Janturai village on Saturday night and asked the residents to observe the Republic Day as 'black day', the officer said.
The residents opposed the Maoist diktat and instead chased them out of the village.
When the Maoists opened blank fire to terrorise the people, the villagers retaliated with their traditional weapons like bows and arrows besides resorting to stone-pelting in which one Maoist was killed and another was injured, he said.
"On getting information, the security forces carried out search operation and found that two Maoist cadres were lying unconscious with serious injuries. One of them was declared brought dead by doctors at a hospital," Malkangiri Superintendent of Police R D Khilari told reporters.
The deceased was identified as Ganga Madhi alias Adma, a native of Kalimela area in Malkangiri. He was a member of the outlawed CPI(Maoist) and carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.
The injured was identifed as Jipro Hatrika alias Jitra, a native of Narayanpatna in Koraput district. He was carrying a reward of Rs 4 lakh on his head.
The villagers of cut-off areas particularly Jodamba, Badapada, Papermettla gram panchyats, who were traditionally supporting the Maoists out of fear, have started realising the importance of being part of the mainstream and decided to oppose the red rebels, the officer said.
The SP said, the villagers of the cut-off areas were of the opinion that they were deprived of development programmes because of the presence of Maoists in the area.
Recently, the Maoists had opposed the construction of a road to Janturai village located in cut-off areas of the district.
The area is cut off from rest of the state as three sides of it is encircled by water of Balimela reservoir while there is a forest on another side adjoining Andhra Pradesh.
Malkangiri Superintendent of Police, R D Khilari said, "Now the villagers are mustering courage to oppose the Maoists because of enhanced security provisions in the area after construction of the Gurupriya bridge connecting the cut-off areas with other parts."
Security personnel, including BSF jawans, have been rushed to the village as residents fear revenge attack by the Maoists, police said.
The police have rushed the injured Maoist to the district headquarter hospital in Malkangiri.
The SP also said that after the incident, Maoists have allegedly damaged about 10 houses at Jodamba village in the same area.
"We are taking adequate measures to provide security to the people as well as undertake developmental works.
"The recent joint operation 'Operation Swabhiman' by personnel of Special Operations Group (SOG), elite commandos of Odisha Police and Central Armed Police Force, seems to have irked the Maoists," the SP said.
Meanwhile, a report from Kalahandi district said an exchange of fire took place between security personnel and Maoists near Niyamgiri hills.
On January 22, Maoists had stopped road construction work in Niyamgiri locality.
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