Rajnandgaon, Jan 14 (PTI) A group of Naxals allegedly killed the husband of a village sarpanch on suspicion of being a police informer in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place on Wednesday night in Pardoni village under Manpur police station limits, a Naxal-affected area located around 170 km from the state capital Raipur.
The 47-year-old victim, husband of Pardoni village's sarpanch (panchayat head), was beaten to death by ultras, Additional Superintendent of Police Jaiprakash Barhai said.
As per preliminary information, a group of ultras stormed into the victim's house when he was resting after dinner and dragged him out on street, he said.
The ultras then took him to the village outskirts and thrashed him brutally in front of his family members. The victim died on the spot, the official said.
After being alerted about the incident, a police team rushed to the spot and the body was shifted to a hospital for post-mortem, he said.
Some Maoist pamphlets were recovered from the spot in which ultras accused the deceased of being a police informer.
The official, however, denied the victim's association with police.
A search operation has been launched in the area to trace the culprits, he said.
According to another police official, on May 8 last year, four Naxals were killed in an encounter with police in Pardoni village.
The rebels suspected that the victim gave a tip-off to police about the presence of their colleagues, he said.
Last month, a villager was gunned down by Naxals in Manpur area of the district on suspicion of being a police informer.
