Bhubaneswar, Dec. 30: Maoists today executed yet another suspected police informer in Malkangiri, around 500km from here, taking the number of such killings to four in the past fortnight in the state’s southernmost district.

Police said the body of Kosa Madhi, 38, of Sangel village in the Kalimela police station limits was found on the outskirts of the village this morning.

The rebels kidnapped Madhi, secretary of local Pani panchyat, on Friday, when they triggered a blast damaging a bridge over the Poteru river to stop the movement of security forces between Kalimela and Padia.

Malkangiri superintendent of police Akhileshwar Singh said the rebels had kidnapped Madhi around the same time when they tried to blow up the bridge.

“The Maoists abducted him while he was returning to his village by the same way,” he said. Yesterday, the rebels had also ransacked the house of a special police officer, looting his property at Sangel.

The killing of Madhi coincided with a visit to Malkangiri by the newly appointed director, intelligence, Sunil Roy, who was accompanied by inspector general (operations) Soumendra Priyadarshi and inspector general (south-western range) Jaswant Jethwa.

Sources said Madhi had been produced before a “Kangaroo court” conducted by the rebels before dubbed as a police informer and killed. Villagers spotted his body this morning.

On December 14, the Maoists shot dead three persons, including a contractor and a village ward member, suspecting them to be police informers. The contractor, Gobind Saha, was also engaged in the construction of a police department building in the district.

The Maoists have also been targeting infrastructure, including schools, panchayat and block office buildings, in Malkangiri and neighbouring Koraput district. On December 25, they had blown up Padia block building, hardly 70km from Malkangiri town, using powerful explosives. Though no one was killed in the incident, the building was gutted completely and a huge pile of official records destroyed.

In another development, the indefinite strike called by the Maoists in Malkangiri and Koraput districts protesting against “fake” encounter killings and the Centre’s decision to step up Operation Green Hunt entered the third day.

The shutdown evoked partial response in the interior areas of the two districts with public transport keeping off roads and business establishments remaining closed at some places.

“The Maoists are a frustrated lot. By resorting to such tactics, they will further antagonise the people, who have been suffering at their hands for a long time,” said a senior police officer.