Seven tribal civilians including a village head and a former block chairperson were abducted by Maoists from a Kartanpalli, a remote village under Mathili police station of Malkangiri district in Odisha bordering Chhattisgarh on Monday night.
According to locals, the armed abductors spoke Hindi, suggesting that they may be part of Darbha division of outlawed CPI (Maoist), which is active in the Chhattisgarh and bordering areas of Odisha. According to Malkangiri police, a search operation has been initiated to locate the abducted persons. Since security forces apprehend planned ambush by ultras due to hilly terrain, they are taking utmost precaution.
The abducted persons included former chairperson of Mathili block, Trinath Bhumia and the village head of Kartanpalli, Sanyasi Bhumia. According to sources, a group of around 20 armed ultras had reached Kartnapalli village at Monday late night and called up seven persons including these two. They were forced to go inside the jungle along with the armed Maoists. The Maoists had told villagers that they would release these seven after discussion, on Tuesday morning. But till Tuesday afternoon no news of these abducted persons had reached Kartanpalli.
