Reported by Debabrata Sana
Malkangiri, Apr 14:

Exactly six days after Odisha police boasted that top IPS officers of nine states affected by left-wing extremism (LWE) took lessons on tackling the Maoists from it, Red rebels cocked a snook at it abducting as many as seven villagers from Kartanpalli village under Mathili police limits in Malkangiri district late on Monday night.

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Reports said former block chairman of Mathili block Trinath Bhumia was among the seven abducted by the suspected Maoists. Kartanpalli is located on the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border.

The reason behind the abduction is not yet clear, reports added.

Sources told OST around 20-25 armed Maoists raided Kartanpalli village late last night first abducted former block chairman of Mathili Trinath Bhumia and then five others from the same village before abducting another villager from the adjoining Barana village.

Though there has been no confirmation from the police on which faction of the Maoists were involved in the abduction, it is suspected that the Daraba division of the CPI (Maoist) which has been active in the region could be behind the abduction since the area is close to the Daraba area of neighbouring Chhattisgarh,

Panic gripped the area following the abduction. According to sources in the district police headquarters, efforts have begun to launch search operations in the area to trace the abducted villagers.

A BSF camp is located very close to Kartanpalli village.