Naxals beat two villagers to death in C'garh over 'corruption'

Naxals allegedly beat two villagers to death while accusing them of indulging in corruption in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Kondagaon district, police said today.

Naxals also thrashed five relatives, including a woman, of the deceased Raiju Korram (35) and Sudu Korram (58).

However, police suspect that deputy Sarpanch of Aadnar village took the help of the ultras to settle his personal enmity with the duo after they were given the work to operate a government society, a senior officer said.

"The incident occurred late last night in Aadnar village under Bayanar police station limits," Kondagaon Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maheshwar Nag told PTI.

The Korrams were the natives of Aadnar, located around 250 kms away from here, he said.

As per preliminary information, a group of armed ultras entered the village and dragged Korrams and their family members out of their house, he said.

Holding Korrams responsible for corruption in operating the government's Large Area Multi Purpose Society (LAMPS) in the area, the Maoists allegedly beat them with sticks, Nag said.

Before leaving the spot, naxals thrashed five relatives of Korrams, the ASP said.

On receiving information about the incident this morning, a police team was dispatched to the spot which brought the bodies for postmortem, he said.

The injured villagers are treated at local primary health centre.

As per primary investigation, two groups of villagers had clashed over operating the LAMPS that deals in credit business, fertiliser distribution and paddy procurement from farmers, in the area.

Earlier, the society was managed by deputy sarpanch Sonadhar Korram and his associates, before its operation was handed over to the deceased, leading to a dispute, he said.

"The investigation suggests that Sonadhar allegedly took help of the naxals to settle his personal enmity. On the basis of the inputs, a case has been registered against deputy sarpanch Sonadhar and his four associates along with naxals," the ASP said.

Efforts are on to trace the deputy Sarpanch and his associates who fled the village after the incident, the ASP said, adding that further probe is underway.