Contractor shot dead by Maoists

Suspected Maoists gunned down a civil contractor near a village market in Odisha's Kalahandi district on Sunday allegedly for being a police informer, police said. The incident occurred at Malipada village in Lanjigarh block when Rajendra Sahu had gone to the weekly market.

Two assailants shot him from point-blank range and set his motorbike on fire before fleeing from the scene, a police officer said. A handwritten note in Odia signed by the Rayagada Area Committee of the CPI (Maoist) said that Sahu was killed for being a police informer.

Kalahandi Superintendent of Police, B Gangadhar, said combing operation has been launched to nab the accused.