Suspected Maoists abduct Orissa village council head

BHUBANESWAR - Suspected Maoists have abducted a village council chief in Orissa’s Koraput district, police said Monday.

Four suspected rebels kidnapped Chingu Jani, the sarpanch of Dumuripadar panchayat, when he was standing near a tea stall with other people in Mathiliput village Sunday, a police officer said.

They whisked him away into a waiting Tata Sumo and disappeared, the officer told IANS. The rebels had threatened him in the past as well, accusing him of carrying out anti-people activities, he said.

Police Monday launched a search operation to locate the abducted village leader after it received a written complaint from a witness, he said.

Jani’s abduction comes a day after the rebels killed Babuli Panda, a local leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) at Ramgiri village in Koraput district. Panda was shot dead Saturday.

Koraput, some 500 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, is considered a Maoist stronghold. The rebels have killed at least seven people in different parts of the district in the past one month.