Jan 21, 2019, at 04:27 pm
On January 5, 2019, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres shot dead a guard of a road construction firm at Patiamba village under Phulbani Sadar Police Station limits in Kandhamal District, suspecting him of being a ‘Police informer’. Superintendent of Police (SP), Prateek Singh disclosed that a group of 10 to 12 armed cadres of the CPI-Maoist ‘Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division’, raided the road construction camp where contractor Prasanna Kumar Swain was building the Sudrukumpa-Medikhol Road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) scheme. The rebels barged into the camp at around 2 am, dragged out watchman Rabindra Mallick and shot him dead. They then set ablaze five vehicles, including a road roller, three tractors, and a mini truck, before fleeing. Before leaving the area, the Maoists also put up two handwritten leaflets near the site. The leaflets mentioned that the attack was in retaliation to the killing of Badal, the ‘divisional committee member, (DCM)’ with a reward of INR 500,000 on his head and four others, in the District on May 13, 2018.