Suspected Maoists “decreed” 101 stick blows on a Jharkhand farmer whom they accused of being a police informer, 21 on his wife and 51 on his cousin after dragging them away from under the nose of police and throwing the couple’s two-year-old child on the road.

Harichand Hansda, 27, a resident of Nayadih Bhandariya Tola village in a rebel-hit area of coal-rich Dhanbad district, has lodged a police complaint alleging that the Maoists held a kangaroo court deep inside the Kadalaga Pahari forest on Friday night and assaulted him and his wife and cousin with sticks. The village is located around 175km northeast of state capital Ranchi.

Two years ago, Harichand’s father Etwari Majhi, a chowkidar, had suffered grievous injuries to his legs when Maoists had assaulted him with boulders after accusing him of being a police informer. On Friday night, Etwari had been at a relative’s house in Gobindpur.

“We were preparing to go to bed when we heard people shouting outside our house. I came out to see over 30 people armed with lathis and firearms.

“They began to drag me away. When my wife (Pooja Devi) and cousin (Dilip Hansda) came to my rescue, they were also taken along with me to the Kadalaga Pahari forest. They abused me and accused me of being a police informer,” Harichand said outside his house that is barely 500 metres from the Begnoria police picket.

“They accused me of informing the police about Maoist movements and threatened me with dire consequences if I continued to cooperate with the cops.

“They held a kangaroo court and as punishment they rained 101 lathi blows on me, 21 on my wife and 51 on my cousin. They threatened to kill me if I continued to cooperate with the police,” he added. He showed bruises on his back.

Harichand said the Maoists hurled the couple’s two-year-old son, who was in his mother’s arms, “onto the ground and dragged us away”.

“Fortunately, one of our neighbours took the child to his home and looked after him till we returned in the morning. They (Maoists) also directed us to amicably settle a land dispute with one of our neighbours,” he said.

The police said Harichand had a longstanding land dispute with neighbour Babu Jaan.

“They have been fighting over an acre of land. Babu Jaan is a distant relative of Harichand. We suspect it could be a ploy to settle the dispute in the garb of a Maoist attack,” said Tundi police station officer-in-charge Sharda Ranjan Prasad Singh.

However, the police did not rule out the possible involvement of Maoists as the area is a hotbed of rebel activities.

“We are investigating the incident and though prima facie it seems to be an attempt to settle a land dispute, we cannot deny the involvement of the Maoists too as the area is infested with rebels. We have intensified combing operations in the forest area,” said Dhanbad senior superintendent of police Akhilesh B. Verior.