Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: Suspected Maoists today shot dead a forest guard in Buden area of Bargarh district triggering fears of renewal of violence by the rebels against forest officials.

Sources said the guard, Narayan Duan, 34, was taken away by a group of rebels from his house at Jaipur village under the Buden police station area in the wee hours.

Later in the day, the villagers found Narayan’s bullet-riddled body under a banyan tree in the forest on the village outskirts. Though officials were tight-lipped about the reason behind the murder, knowledgeable sources said the forest guard might have incurred the wrath of the Maoists operating in the Sambalpur-Bargarh belt for trying to prevent timber smuggling by their henchmen.

In the past few years, forests in the area have turned into happy hunting ground for smugglers who operate, more often than not, under patronage of the Maoists who collect money from them. The smugglers are also said to arrange safe hideouts for the rebels, who are now active in the belt covering Sambalpur, Bargarh, Deogarh and Sundergarh.

Today’s incident recalls the killing of three forest guards by the Maoists in Dhenkanal district in 2007 following which the terrorised forest officials had threatened to resign en masse. They had also demanded arms for the guards and provisions to adequately compensate them in the event of death or injury.

Sources said the forest officials were not happy with the steps taken to ensure their safety, especially in the case of forest guards and rangers whose work frequently takes them deep inside the forests. “Given the fact that the Maoists and the timber smugglers are much better armed, we continue to be at a disadvantage. The government has also not done anything to improve our service conditions,” said an official in condition of anonymity.

The officials here admitted that the Maoists, given their superior firepower, had managed to strike terror in the hearts of forest guards, who would now be even more unwilling to serve in the rebel-inflicted areas.

“The fact is that the foresters, these days, are reluctant even to go after smugglers, who are generally heavily armed. Protection of forests has become more or less a myth,” said an official.

To make things worse, the forest department is also reported to be facing a staff crunch. Though the option of hiring men on contract remains open to the department, hired hands are said to be less reliable.