Midnapore, Oct. 19: A farmer who had seen Maoists butcher a mate a few yards from him and identified one of the attackers was hacked to death in West Midnapore’s Binpur last night.

On August 28, after Sital Hembram told villagers he had recognised a member of the gang, a mob tracked down the alleged killer’s house in a nearby locality and lynched his father.

Sital, 35, had spent the past two months with relatives in Jhargram town, about 25km away, out of fear. “He had returned home only yesterday,” a police officer said.

Three youths came to his house last night and called for him. “My son walked out with them. Neighbours told me this morning they had found him dead in a bush on the outskirts of the village,” said Sital’s mother Budhi, 72.

West Midnapore superintendent of police Manoj Verma said that after hacking Sital, the assailants had slit his throat to make sure he was dead. For some, the brutality is confirmation of the revenge motive.

Sital’s wife Kishormoni, 30, said the trio had come with their faces covered. “Some of the neighbours told us the goons had bolted their doors from outside during the raid,” she added, her three daughters and two sons, all aged between five and 14, behind her.

On August 28, Mangal Soren, 24, was tilling his land when five men on motorcycles shot him. As Mangal slumped to the ground, they hacked him. An axe had flown out of the hand of one of the attackers and hit Sital, at work on his field.

Sital, a CPM supporter, had identified one of the five attackers as Chandan Mahato. A group of villagers marched to Chandan’s house in neighbouring Guiara, dragged out his father and killed him. It was hailed by some as one of the first instances of villagers’ resistance against the rebels in the Lalgarh region.

Both Chandan and his father Biren were active members of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities.

Calcutta duo

Two “Maoist sympathisers” arrested in Calcutta under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act on October 5 were today remanded in judicial custody till October 30 by a Jhargram court.

Prasun Chatterjee, 34, is from Jadavpur and Raja Sorkhel, 46, from Garia. Their lawyer alleged that they were being framed. “There is no basis for charging them under the UAPA. That is why the police didn’t seek their custody today.”

CID officers conceded that they had not got much out of the duo in the fortnight they were in police custody. “We haven’t got any vital lead from them. That’s why we didn’t seek their custody,” said one.

Chatterjee and Sorkhel have been charged with attempt to murder, waging war against the state, sedition, conspiracy against the state and for violating the explosives substances act. They also allegedly raised funds for the People’s Committee. “Providing funds to the committee amounts to funding the Maoists,” an officer had said after their arrest.

Lalgarh mission: Chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said at Writers’ Buildings that the secretaries of various departments would visit Lalgarh tomorrow to assess the progress of development projects initiated to wean its residents away from the Maoists.

The officials will stay in Lalgarh and oversee the projects, which include building roads and sinking tubewells.