Maoists issue letter over mistakenly killing 'innocent' school teacher

Days after a school teacher was killed by the Naxals in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, the rebels have issued a letter calling it a mistake, the police claimed Thursday. Yogendra Meshram was killed because he was suspected to be a policeman but he was "innocent", the purported letter said.

Meshram, the teacher at a municipal school at Korchi, was shot dead by Naxals at Kombda Bajar on March 12. Local people had protested the killing vehemently, said Shailesh Balkawade, District Superintendent of Police, `Pawan', who is a divisional commander of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), issued an apology letter which was circulated Wednesday, he said.

The letter addressed to Meshram's family, said Maoists killed him as he was wrongly thought to be a policeman due to "intelligence failure", the SP said. Maoists apologised to the family for the killing, the letter added.

Balkawade said the police were gaining the upper hand against the Maoists. The rebels were under pressure and therefore targeting innocent persons, he said.

On March 8, over 12,000 women took part in an anti-Naxal rally in the district, he claimed.

(With inputs from agencies.)