Maoists kill two of the four people abducted from Koraput in Odisha

Maoists have killed two of the four persons they abducted recently suspecting them to be police informers and released the other two unhurt in Odisha's Koraput district, police said on Monday.

Four villagers, including a sarpanch were abducted by a group of Maoists who had attacked Tolo Guluru village and torched five vehicles including a tractor on Saturday night, Sunabeda sub-divisional police officer VR Rao.

Two of the hostages, including a former sarpanch were killed by the red rebels, while the abducted sarpanch and another person were set free, the police said.

The two bodies were sighted in the nearby forest by the villagers this morning and the police was informed. A police team is on way to the spot.

Police said the killing appeared to have been due to frustration as a number of Maoists had been arrested or killed in encounters with the police while several of them surrendered in recent times in the region, they said.

The Maoists, who abducted the four men and torched the vehicles had left letters and banners at the spot claiming that the incident was a fallout of killing of two of their comrades in an exchange of fire with security forces on March four in neighbouring Mungulivalsa village.

While the posters claimed that police had taken the help of villagers in the operation, the police have dismissed it.

"We had never sought help of villagers in the March 4 operation. The allegations are baseless," said Koraput superintendent of police Awinash Kumar.