Koraput: Maoists have threatened to murder five residents of three villages in Boipariguda police limits accusing them of exploiting poor villagers.
The rebels have issued the threat through posters put up at several places at Ramagiri on Saturday.
The Malkangiri-Koraput-Vishakapatnam border divisional committee of the Maoists, which has allegedly put up the posters, have claimed that Pulo Nayak, Lokiram Barik and Suri Barik of Dandabadi village, Anand Nayak of Rotakhand village and Kobiraj Khora of Majhiguda village, in connivance with government officials, were exploiting the poor villagers of the area.
"These five people are the main conspirators behind exploitation of the tribal people. They will be awarded the death penalty. Also, other exploiters will be identified and awarded a similar punishment," reads a Maoist poster seized by police from Ramagiri on Saturday.
Also, the Maoists, through posters, have accused the Naveen Patnaik government of being anti-poor.
"While the government officials are neck-deep in corruption and have accumulated illegally earned property, the poor have remained poor. The poor are being cheated in the name of development," reads another poster.
However, the police said the genuineness of the posters was being verified and combing operation had been intensified in the area.
"It could also be the handiwork of some people to create panic in the area. Investigation is on to verify the authenticity of the posters," said Koraput police superintendent Kanwar Vishal Singh.
The police are not taking chances and have intensified anti-Maoist combing operations in the area that shares a boundary with Chhattisgarh.
"The police have been kept on high alert in the Boipariguda area, and operations have been intensified. The development is being closely monitored," Singh said.
Sources said the posters had created considerable panic in the area. The Maoists shot at a person called Anand Nayak at the Dandabadi weekly market on April 15.
IAS rejig
The state government on Saturday interchanged four district collectors of the state.
Balangir collector N. Thirumala Naik will be the new district collector of Nayagarh while Arindam Dakua has replaced him at Balangir.
Mayurbhanj collector Surendra Kumar Meena has been transferred to Sundargarh while Vineet Bhardwaj has been posted in his place.
