After being alerted, a team from Gadiras police station rushed to the spot and sent the body for post-mortem, he said.
“Prima facie, the modus operandi of the attack suggests it was executed by a small action team of Naxalites. However, the investigation is being done from all possible angles, including personal enmity,” the official said. Efforts are on to trace the assailants, he added.
Another man killed
In another incident, Naxalites dragged a 45-year-old man out of his house in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district and killed him while claiming he was a police informer, an official said on Monday.
The incident took place on Sunday night when the victim, identified as Shaluram Potai, was at his home in Maspur village, he said and denied the claim of Naxalites.
The official said Naxalites killed the innocent villager out of frustration to thwart development works in the area and create an atmosphere of terror.
As per preliminary information, 15-20 armed Naxalites clad in ‘uniform’ surrounded Potai’s house and dragged him out on a street while he was having dinner, the official said. Naxalites brutally thrashed him in front of his family and other locals and killed him before leaving the spot, he said.
After being alerted, a police team was sent to the spot and the body was sent for post-mortem, he added.
The Kutul area committee of Maoists left pamphlets at the spot in which they claimed Potai was acting as a police informer, the official said while denying the deceased’s link with police.
Nine ultras arrested
Nine Naxalites were arrested and three minor boys detained on Monday from different parts of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, a police official said. Four Naxalites were held from Benchram village, while two from Bade Tungali in Jangla, Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said. Three other ultras, including two women, were nabbed between Ketulnar and Edasmata villages.
