Nuapada: A police officer in plain clothes was kidnapped by Maoists on Tuesday and shot dead later in a forest area in this Odisha district bordering Chhattisgarh, close on the heels of the abduction and unharmed release of two Italians and a BJD MLA in the state.
44-year-old Kruparam Majhi, ASI of Dharmabandha outpost, was escorting a water tanker to a CRPF camp at Goudha with a constable on a motorcycle when they were stopped by a group of about 30 armed Maoists, DGP Manmohan Praharaj said.
"The Maoists abducted the ASI and shot him dead. His body has been recovered. It had three gunshot wounds," Praharaj said.
Constable Deo Narayan Sahu was asked to leave and Majhi was taken at gunpoint by the Maoists into the forest, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Prafulla Patra said, adding no message has been received from the rebels so far.
Both Majhi and Sahu were in plain clothes.
Majhi, who had joined as a constable and hailed from Beltukri, has a wife and four daughters. His bullet riddled body was found at a place between Bharuamunda and Lodra, barely five km from the spot where he was kidnapped, he said.
The body was found near the Sunabeda Sanctuary, located close to Chhattisgarh. The water tanker was also torched by the Maoists who fled.
The killing came close on the heels of kidnap of the two Italians in Kandhamal district and BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka in Koraput district by two different Maoist groups. All three were subsequently released unharmed.
Majhi's last rites would be performed with full state honours.
Condemning the killing as barbaric and savage, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said an ex-gratia of Rs 8 lakh and Rs 10 lakh in insurance would be paid to Majhi's family.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, May 08, 2012, 14:17