Raipur, June 15: After villagers, now it’s the time of the traders to face the Naxalites’ ire. The red army last night abducted 17 businessmen in Kanker district suspecting them to be “police informers”.

Of them, 14 were released this afternoon. But three have been detained allegedly for a “trial” in their kangaroo court.

“The traders were on their way to Badgaon in a mini-truck loaded with goods to attend Sunday weekly market when rebels intercepted their vehicle near Kondai, 200km from the state capital, on the Minchgaon-Kondagaon road yesterday night,” said a senior police officer in Kanker.

The Naxalites asked the traders to get down from the vehicle. The red army set the mini-truck on fire and took the traders in the forest.

“The Naxalites tried to identify the traders before deciding to release 14 and detain the rest,” an officer, quoting a released trader, said. Sources added that the three traders still detained have been identified as Rakesh Kumar, Shivram Verma and Suryaprakash Verma. The rebels, as stated by the released traders, would hold a “trial” of the three in a kangaroo court before “pronouncing” sentences. A force of security personnel has been rushed to the forest to launch a search for the traders. But the police could not made any breakthrough till Sunday evening.