Maoists kill former village head in Odisha

Odisha Channel Bureau Malkangiri, Oct 5: Suspected Maoists killed a former village head in MV-79 area of this backward tribal district of Odisha on Saturday night, police said on Sunday.According a senior police official, a group of four Maoists arrived at the house of Kamalu Penta, a resident of Mangipali village under MV-79 area around 9 pm on Saturday.They took Penta with them to the nearby village where they killed him by firing at him from a close range.The bullet-ridden body of the former village head was found by the villagers on Sunday morning.Though no note left by the Maoists was recovered from near the victim’s body, it is being suspected that the Maoists killed Penta suspecting him to a police informer.The police, however, claimed that the former village head had never worked as a police informer in the past.The district police are investigating into the case and combing operations have been intensified in the area.