Seven villagers untraceable in Sukma; Naxal hand suspected

Sukma, Jul 20: At least seven people from a village in Sukma district are ‘untraceable’ since the last two days and are suspected to have been abducted by Naxals, police said on Tuesday.
In another incident, Naxals killed a former colleague who had quit the outlawed outfit in Bijapur district, they said. In the insurgency-hit Sukma, seven people were recently picked up by ultras for “unknown reasons” from separate localities of Kunded village under Jagargunda police station limits, Sukma Superintendent of Police Sunil Sharma said.
“It is still not clear whether the villagers were abducted by the rebels or they voluntarily went with them, he said. As per preliminary investigation, the seven people were picked up by ultras from the village, while locals claimed they went to other places to attend a marriage function and for agricultural purposes, the official said.
Efforts were on to trace them, Sharma said.
So far, no FIR has been lodged in this connection as no one approached the police, the official said, adding that they got to know about these seven ‘missing’ people from their sources. However, a probe into the matter has been launched based on inputs that these people were allegedly abducted by Maoists, he said.
Police sources said Naxals might have taken the villagers for a meeting.
Meanwhile, Naxals killed a former colleague, Raju Venjam (28), who had quit their outfit and was leading a normal life in the insurgency-hit Bijapur district, another official said. The rebels abducted Verma on Sunday when he was working at his field in Padeda village under Kotwali police station limits, he said.
The body, bearing injuries inflicted by sharp weapons, was found lying on a road near the village on Tuesday morning, the official said.
After being alerted, a police team rushed to the spot and the body was sent for postmortem, he said.
As per preliminary information, the deceased, who was associated with banned CPI (Maoist) for a long time, returned to his village a few years back and since then he was doing farming, the official said.
The victim had not officially surrendered before authorities, he said.
A search operation has been launched to trace the ultras, he added.
With this incident, Naxals have so far killed three persons in separate incidents in Bijapur this month.