HYDERABAD — The CPI Maoist extremists yesterday shot dead a local leader of the state’s ruling Congress party in Mahbubnagar, the district superintendent of police Charui Sinha said. Komati Prakash, a mandal Parishad member in his mid-thirties was shot dead by two unidentified Maoist rebels. “They shot at him from close range, killing him on the spot”, she said.The incident occurred at Marikal village under Peddakottapalli mandal of the district, about 200km south of Hyderabad, when Prakash was surveying the mud road laying work between Marikal and Peddakarpamula villages. The incident created panic in the area and the workers busy in the roadwork also ran in panic.
The killing of Prakash has come as a surprise to the police as he was neither a prominent political figure nor was he on the ‘hit list’ of the Maoists. “They have killed him without any grudge or any reason”, the SP said.
IANS adds: However, the action is being viewed as a revenge for guerrillas killed in police firing. On Friday, police gunned down three Maoists near Rajhamundry in East Godavari district.