Bhubaneswar, Sept. 3: Maoists today shot dead a contractor in Malkangiri district suspecting him to be a police informer.

Sources said Purna Chandra Dalai, 52, also a BJP leader, was called out of his house near Chitrakonda by a group of armed rebels who took him to an isolated boat ferry point and shot him from point blank range. The incident took place in the wee hours and the rebels managed to escape before the police could reach the area.

Senior police officials in Malkangiri, a known rebel bastion, said security in the area had been tightened with the deployment of additional forces who have launched a massive combing operation. Reacting to the incident, chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik said in Bhubaneswar that contractors working in the Maoist belt would be provided security on request.

The neighbours of Dalai said the Maoists had accused the victim of being a police informer. However, some others said that he might have been killed for resisting an extortion bid by the rebels who have been collecting money from contractors and businessmen in the areas of their domination.

In a related development, a Maoist commander was reported to have surrendered in Nupada district, which is fast emerging as the new stronghold of the rebels. There is growing concern in the police department about the recent spurt in Maoist activities in Nuapada as it borders Chhattisgarh. About two months ago, half a dozen Chhattisgarh police jawans were gunned down by Maoists inside a sanctuary in Nuapada district.

Sources said that Maoists were trying to cut a corridor through Nuadapada to Kalahandi and Balangir districts as they were keen on expanding their activities in these areas, considered among the most backward in the state. While they have killed two persons in Balangir in the past few months, they are intent on using similar terror tactics in Kalahandi.

“Both these districts are as crucial to the expansion plans of the Maoists because they already have a strong base in Nuapada. Together, the three districts form a continuous belt through which Chhattisgarh-based rebels can enter Orissa and hit targets anywhere in the state,” said a senior officer.

At present, Maoists are active in 17 of Orissa’s 30 districts but are trying hard to penetrate into new areas. While they appear to have succeeded in getting a toehold in Kalahandi and Balangir, they are trying hard to push further up and find recruits in the state’s coastal belt where, till now, their influence remains limited to the district of Jajpur.