Bhagalpur, Sept. 3: One villager was lynched while two others were injured as more than 150 suspected Naxalites raided Ghaghrizore hamlet under Barabasini panchayat under Naxalite-affected Katoria block in Banka district on Friday night.

The villagers said the attack was carried out by the Naxalites, while the police denied the involvement of the rebels in the incident.

Villagers at Ghaghrizore, located around 44km from the Banka district headquarters, claimed that around 10pm yesterday, more than 150 Naxalites raided the village. “Most of the Naxalites were carrying traditional weapons. They lynched one Sulo Mandal with sharp weapons. Another villager, Mahadeo Mandal, and the wife of Suraj Mandal suffered serious injuries and have been admitted to the Katoria public health centre,” a villager told The Telegraph.

Residents said the rebels were pressuring the people to join hands with them and after the villagers denied, they raided the hamlet. “After we refused to join the party and started defying their orders by not paying levy, they raided the village to teach us a lesson,” said Upendra Mandal, a villager.

The people, however, could not cite a specific reason behind the latest attack.

Some villagers said the slain Sulo Mandal had fallen out with his relative Nilkant Mandal over a land dispute. “Nilkant has a nexus with Naxalites and many other people in the village also have relations with rebels,” they said. Some other villagers said Sulo was lynched because the outlaws suspected him to be a police informer.

In 2007, Sulo’s brother, Bhirav Mandal, was killed by Maoist rebels.

Sources said the Naxalites chose to attack this village mainly because of its highly inaccessible location in the bordering areas of Deoghar district in Jharkhand.

Banka superintendent of police Shyam Kumar was not available for comment but Amit Kumar Jain, the deputy inspector-general, Bhagalpur range, denied the involvement of the Maoists.

“We suspect the incident to be a result of a land dispute between two groups. Now, it is a subject of investigation whether the Naxalites were involved in yesterday’s incident,” he said.

Station house officer at the Katoria police station Rajesh Kumar, who rushed to the village late yesterday night after learning about the incident, also denied the involvement of the Maoists.

Tension ran high in Ghaghrizore and in adjoining hamlets such as Bhelbhaheri, Tithibaran, Bhadahari, Kaithatiker, Barbasini and Hindolabaran.

“The partymen have started pressuring us to join them because they want to strengthen their network in the region owing to its location. The rebels tried to develop the area as a red corridor and also strengthen their support base in the hamlets, which is located on the border of Deoghar district in Jharkhand,” some villagers said.

Meanwhile, half-a-dozen villagers abducted by the rebels were released late yesterday night.