2 villagers butchered by Maoists

Jamshedpur, Aug 29 (PTI) Two villagers wereslaughtered by CPI (Maoists) who branded them as policeinformer in Sonua, around 120 km from here, in extremist-hitWest Singhbhum district, police today said. A group of 30/40 armed Maoists, in fatigue, arrived invillage Lonjo village and dragged one Jainsingh Jamudaforcibly out of his house before locking the doors ofvillagers in the neighborhood around 9.30 pm yesterday,Sub-divisional Police Officer (Chakradharpur), Ajay Kerkettasaid. The Maoists slit the throat of Jamuda and dumped thetorso on nearby road while threw the severed head a littledistance away, he said. After committing the crime, the naxals went toadjacent Kudaburu, which was about a km from Lonjo, anddragged out one Logo Lohar in a similar fashion, Kerketta saidadding Lohar was taken to a nearby jungle, where Maoists slitthe throat. The rebels similarly dumped the torso on a culvertwhile the severed head was flung some distance away, he saidstating that some posters recovered from the spot claimed thatthe two were killed for being police informers. Denying the charges of the Maoists outright, Kerketahowever said the victims were innocent and did not have anylink with police force. While Lohar was a blacksmith and dealt with makingplough, Jamuda was a small farmer and also did petty work forlivelihood, the police officer said. Kerketta said continuous anti-naxal operation in thenaxal-hit areas of Saranda left Maoists with no place to hideand commit such heinous crime with the sole objective toterrorize villagers. PTI BS SUSSUS