Maoists blow up panchyayat office, set ablaze youth in Orissa

Maoists blew up a panchayat office with landmines in Malkangiri district today, three days after setting ablaze the son of a village head in the same district, official sources said.

A 50-strong group stormed into Niliguda under Padia block, about 35 km from Malkanagiri, and triggered landmine explosions to blow up the gram panchayat building, Padia block development officer, Subhash Singh said.

The ceiling of the two-storied building caved in and the structure suffered extensive damage in the blast, he said adding the same building had come under attack by ultras during construction last year.

In the earlier attack on Sunday night, a group of rebels physically assaulted Penta Majhi, son of a village head at Kurab under Kalimela police station area and burnt him to death, a police officer said today.

The family members of Penta did not initially lodge the complaint and hence official information about the incident trickled out only three days later, he said.

Investigation revealed, Maoists were believed to have asked Penta ,aged around 24 years ,to join their outfit but as he refused, they burnt him.

Before the two attacks, Maoists had lied low in the district since the abduction and release of then Malkangiri collector RV Krishna in February, police sources said.