Five days after 30-year-old Antaram Rout was killed by cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) on suspicion of being a ‘police informer’, his family was found to have left Dhekunpani, their native village, reports The New Indian Express on August 24. Villagers suspect the family of Antaram may have fled in fear of the ultras. Antaram’s family members including his wife and six daughters have left Dhekunpani, and reportedly shifted to the house of the deceased’s brother at Gerujhor village in Komna block, located 70 kilometres away. Antaram hailed from Chhattisgarh but was residing at Dhekunpani, located in Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary, for about five years. Allegedly, on August 18 night, a group of Maoists dragged him out of his house and took him to the nearby forest where he was shot before his body was dumped in the village.
Meanwhile, several posters purportedly put up by Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) surfaced in the Mundigarh area in Tumudibandh Police Station limits in Kandhamal District of Odisha on August 23 morning, reports Pragativadi. According to reports, the posters were seen pasted on boundary walls and electric poles under Tumudibandh Police Station area. “Government should stop politics in schools and should bring its officers and politicians to the right path or else we will do our job,” read the poster. On being informed about the matter, Police rushed to the spot and launched a probe into the incident, and subsequently intensified the combing operations in the forest areas of the District including the areas on border.