Maoists gunned down three persons, including a village panchayat ward member abducted by them two days ago, in further bloodletting in Odisha's Malkangiri district today.

Malkangiri: Maoists gunned down three persons, including a village panchayat ward member abducted by them two days ago, in further bloodletting in Odisha's Malkangiri district today.

The bullet-riddled bodies of Tulasi Behera, ward member of Chintalguda, and Jaga Madkami of Ramaguda, who had been kidnapped by the Maoists in the early hours of 12 December, were found in a forest at Bejangwada area this morning, Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said.

In another incident, a contractor was shot dead by suspected Maoists at MV-90 in Kalimela area this evening. Gautam Sha (35) was standing outside his house when

three motor-cycle borne assailants gunned him down, Inspector in-charge of Kalimena police station S K Nayak said.

BSF and police personnel have intensified anti-Maoist operations after the incidents, police said. While the Maoists had released three of the kidnapped persons yesterday, two others were set free today, they said, adding the killings came close on the heels of gunning down of the father of a panchayat samiti member in the Motu area.

A group of about 40 armed Maoists struck at the house of Prabhakar Madkami, father of Manyamkonda panchayat, late on Thursday night and shot him dead after calling him out and had also set a private bus on fire yesterday near Beheraguda in Bejangwada area.

Earlier, the Maoists had kidnapped three persons including the son of a village sarpanch of Gamphakunda on December 4. One of them escaped from the clutches of the ultras the next day, while the other two were released on 7 December.

PTI