Bhubaneswar, Dec. 13: Maoists gunned down the father of a panchayat representative in Malkangiri today, barely 24 hours after abducting seven persons, including a village ward member, in the district.

Sources said five armed rebels dragged Prabhakar Madkami, 65, out of his house in Manyamkonda village within Motu police station limits, around 100km from Malkangiri town, last night. His bullet-ridden body was found near the village this morning.

Madkami’s son, Laxmidhar is a panchayat representative. Sources said the Maoists suspected both father and son of being police informers. Combing has been identified in the area.

Yesterday, the rebels had kidnapped village ward member Tulasi Behera from Ramaguda village alongwith six other residents of nearby Ramaguda. They, too, were suspected to be passing information about the rebels to the police.

Malkangiri superintendent of police Akhileshwar Singh said three of the seven persons abducted yesterday had returned home but the fate of others was not known. He said the activities of Rama Behera, one of the abductees released by the Maoists, appeared to be suspicious. “He seems to be revealing a bit too much about the kidnappers and asking people to go to the rescue of others still trapped in the den of the Maoists. But this could well be a trap,” said Singh. The son of Rama is in jail.

The rebels are increasingly loosing their grip on the people, especially the tribals, who have turned against them. Thus, these kidnappings are being seen as a sign of desperation of the rebels.

“The people are refusing to cooperate with them. Hence, they are resorting to terror tactics such as abduction and killings to make them fall in line. But this is not going to work,” said a senior police officer.

Security forces have had some major successes against the rebels in Malkangiri district in the recent past. On September 14, the Maoists were killed in a fierce gun battle with the police. The operation led by Singh also led to the seizure of a large cache of arms. Some of the slain rebels were from Chhattisgarh and believed to have taken part in the Darbha valley attack that killed about a dozen Congress leaders in the neighbouring state.

With police turning the heat on Chhattisgarh Maoists in the wake of the incident, some of them were reported to have crossed the border and entered Malkangiri and the neighbouring Koraput district.

In another development, Maoists set a private bus on fire near Beheraguda in Malkangiri district today. Sources said the bus was on its way from Balimela.