Bhubaneswar, July 30: The killing of a special police officer (SPO) by Maoists in Malkangiri district yesterday has brought into focus dangers underlying the job which has been specially created as an incentive to the tribal youths in the Naxal-affected areas of Odisha.

Sources said that the slain SPO, Ajit Sodi, whose family was today sanctioned an ex-gratia amount of Rs 8 lakh and promised a government job, had joined the police force to get rid of his poverty. But, that proved costly for him.

Sodi had become a marked man for the Maoists who have been opposing the appointment of SPOs recruited from the tribal community to assist the regular police force in the districts known for Left-wing extremist activities.

“The rebels are against the government policy of recruiting SPOs as its threatens their support base among the tribals. They describe it as exploitation of the tribals by the government,” said an official.

The Odisha government, on the other hand, decided to recruit SPOs as an incentive to the tribals who have been supporting the Maoists for long by acting as their spies and providing them food and shelter.

Since the tribals were flocking to the rebels mainly because of poverty and unemployment, the government thought that their appointment as SPOs would wean them away from the Maoists.

This paid good dividends in the sense that the over 4,000 SPOs recruited by the government helped accelerate the drive against the Maoists by gathering intelligence on behalf of the police and often leading the security forces to the dens of the rebels.

“It is because of them that we succeeded in arresting a number of rebels. They have been an asset in our anti-Maoist operations,” said an officer.

On the other hand, however, the very nature of their job has exposed these tribal youths with basic police training to the wrath of the radicals who consider the government’s SPO recruitment policy a threat to their support base in the interior villages of southern and western Odisha where the Maoist movement has struck deep roots.

Now, the rebels appear to be going after the SPOs systematically in an apparent bid to scare away the tribals from joining the police ranks.