Jamshedpur, April 14: Five Maoists gunned down a contractor’s brother at Bamnatora village of Patamda in East Singhbhum this morning for having “lied” to them in a bid to deny them levy.

Sashinath Mahanty (35), the younger brother of civil contractor Bholanath, was shot at the site of a check-dam under construction at Bamnatora village under Lachhipur panchayat, about 40km from here, close to the bordering Purulia district of Bengal. The rebels vanished in the nearby woods soon after.

East Singhbhum superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh rushed to the spot after sending additional forces to the trouble-torn terrain at Patamda and adjacent areas.

Local MLA and revenue minister Dulal Bhuiyan also visited the spot to take stock of the situation.

According to sources, Sashinath was overseeing the construction work of the check-dam at the village close to his house when the five rebels arrived in two motorcycles. At first sight they appeared to be ordinary villagers, but soon the victim realised that they were Naxalites.

Sources said one of the rebels asked Sashinath to summon Bholanath. But Sashinath tried to ward them off by saying his “uncle” wasn’t at home. But during the conversation a calculator dropped from his pocket and the rebels became suspicious.

As soon the rebels realised he was indeed Bholanath’s brother Sashinath and that he was trying to hide his identity, they started thrashing him in front of several villagers. Then, one of them took out a pistol and fired at Sashinath, who died on the spot.

Although no pamphlets or posters were found, the police were certain it was a Naxalite killing. A wooden board with a statement “Lal Salaam” was recovered from the area, prompting deputy superintendent of police S.K. Sinha to say that prima facie it appeared to be a Naxalite attack.