Gaya, July 2: Around 150 suspected Maoists attacked Chando village under Barachatti police station in the district on Friday midnight and torched at least four mud houses belonging to the same family.

The victims, whose houses were torched, are brothers. The Maoists targeted them, accused them of being police informers. Not only did the rebels torch the houses, they also beat up the family members and threatened them not to carry on farming. No casualty or serious injury, however, has been reported from the incident.

In February this year, the Maoists had killed Gowardhan Yadav, the eldest brother of the family on similar charges. One of the brothers, Sohraj Yadav, said: “The Maoists took away their belongings, including utensils, cash, some amount of foodgrain and the cattle. Items worth an estimated Rs 2 lakh were looted. We have no shelter in monsoon, as our houses have been reduced to ashes.”

When the Maoists attacked the village, they ordered the family members of Rooplal, Sohraj, Thakuri, Dwarik and Sewak Yadav to vacate their respective houses. They thrashed the male members of the families and threatened them not to carry on farming. Subsequently, Maoists doused the houses with kerosene before torching them.

Following the incident, CRPF assistant commandant Bhupendra Singh and the station house officer of Barachatti police station, Satyendra Kumar Mishra, rushed to the village with CRPF and district police jawans. Mishra assured the villagers that he would talk to the block development officer in this regard.