The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Fear stalks villages in Bhadrachalam

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Saturday, Jun 07, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Fear stalks villages in Bhadrachalam

Staff reporter

KHAMMAM: Fear stalks the agency villages of Bhadrachalam division following a series of killing and kidnapping incidents in Charla police station limits with Maoists killing four persons branding them as police informers. Seven others have been also done to death by them in the neighbouring Pamedu (in Chhattisgarh).

All the killings are viewed as part of the Maoists’ reprisal against Kanchala encounter which left 17 naxalites killed on March 18 last.

An auto driver, Thati Bhaskar from Charla town had become the latest addition.

He was reportedly invited to the Maoist camp and shot dead. Nagesh, another auto driver, accompanied him to the forest.

Bhaskar carried with him a basket containing 15 mangoes for dalam members. They reached the Maoist camp around 1 p.m.

The naxalites sent Nagesh back after ascertaining his identity. They told him that Bhaskar would be back to Charla next morning.

The Maoists took Bhaskar into the forests blind-folded even as he resisted. As Nagesh started walking back, he heard three gun shots.

He went running to a nearby village from where he reached Charla trekking 18 km the next day. As he came to know about the death of Bhaskar the next day, he apprised the police of his ordeal. He said that the Maoists had relieved them of the motorcycle also.

Many desert villages

Many of tribal leaders had deserted their villages following the killing of the auto driver. They are scared of using motorcycles and mobile phones, as they would attract the attention of Maoists. The police have stepped up combing on the inter-state border.

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