Chhattisgarh: Naxals kill former associate's brother

Naxals killed the younger brother of a former associate who is now working with police in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said on Tuesday. Laxman Mandavi (26), a resident of Duvalikarka village, was stabbed to death with sharp weapons by ultras at his native place late Monday night, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said.

Mandavi's brother quit the outlawed CPI (Maoist) last year and joined the police force, which apparently angered the rebels, he said. As per preliminary information, over a dozen Naxals reached the village and then sent some lower rung cadres to bring Mandavi out of his house before killing him in a nearby forest, he said.

Some villagers spotted the body on Tuesday morning and alerted the police who rushed to the forest. The body was sent for postmortem and later handed over to relatives, the official said.

A manhunt was launched to nab the assailants, he said. The deceased's elder brother Baman Mandavi, who was associated with Maoists since 2008, surrendered before police in October last year.

He was active as deputy commander of a military platoon of Maoists at that time and was carrying a reward of Rs three lakh on his head, the official said, adding that he later joined the police force in Dantewada. "Naxals are losing their foothold and the trust of tribal people. Therefore, they are committing such crimes out of desperation and targeting relatives of their associates who have surrendered," Pallava said.

Some Maoist pamphlets were also recovered from the spot in which ultras warned to avenge the killing of their senior cadres - Varghese and Linga - in encounters by security forces, he said..

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