Maoists kill contractor for spying

BHUBANESWAR - Suspecting him to be a policy spy, Maoist guerrillas Friday gunned down a contractor in front of shocked villagers in Orissa’s Malkangiri district, police said.

Ten to 15 rebels called out 45-year-old Chitta Ranjan Ray from his home at MV 69 village and shot him, Superintendent of Police Aniruddha Singh told IANS.

The killing came amid a shutdown called by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist in the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border region to protest an offensive against it by the state and central security forces.

The guerrillas had killed a forest official in Nuapada district Wednesday night. Maoists are active in more than half of the state’s 30 districts.