The outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) has owned up to killing two of its senior guerrillas in the restive Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
Four Maoist guerrillas active in Bastar were killed by their own party men in the last few days.
One Maoist leader has been “detained” and another Maoist leader managed to escape from the captivity of his own comrades and surrendered to the police.
“Our party held a people’s court which awarded death penalty to Badru [a DVC member of the Darbha area] and Hemla Bhagat [another Darbha DVC member and chief of Maoists’ military intelligence wing in the area]. Both of them have been killed for indulging in anti-people, anti-party activities. They were in contact with the police and were planning to kill some senior leaders of the party. They were also conspiring to surrender with weapons before the enemy [the police],” said Surinder, secretary of the Darbha Division of the CPI (Maoist), in a press statement on Sunday.
However, the statement did not mention anything about two other leaders — Hinge and Kosi — who have been killed by the rebels in the last week of June.
“The conspiracy [using Badru and Hemla Bhagat] was a part of police strategy to weaken the Maoist organisation. If they don’t stop such anti-people activities, we will be forced to intensify our reactionary activities,” warned Surinder and blamed senior police officers for the death of Badru and Bhagat.
Cautioning the people of Bastar against the “traitors” like Badru and Bhagat, Surinder claimed that the police and the government are spreading “lies” that the Maoists are killing their own cadres who want to leave the party and go home.
“Our party never executed any of its cadres who wanted to go home. We only punish those who indulge in treachery and damage our party and the movement. We appeal to the people to continue this struggle,” said the Maoist leader.
