Maoists kill two in Odisha

Malkangiri (Odisha): Unleashing fresh violence, Maoists killed two persons suspecting them to be police informers and torched a mobile phone tower in Odisha`s Malkangiri district, police said on Thursday.

Armed ultras had abducted three persons from Kiang area recently and killed two of them while freeing another, Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said. The bodies of Gopi Pujari, a shop-keeper, and Hatiram Pujari were found on a forest road this morning with their throats slit and bearing gun-shot marks, he said, adding another person Padmanav Pujari was set free by the rebels. While Gopi had been kidnapped from a village festival venue on April 19, the other two were abducted on April 22. The victims were suspected to have been killed last night when over 50 armed Maoists had also stormed into the area and set afire a mobile phone tower of a private service provider, the SP said. The killing was probably committed by Maoists from neighbouring Chhattisgarh who suspected the two to be passing on information about rebel activities to the police, sources said. Following the incident, the borders with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had been sealed. PTI