Maoists call killed tribal student a police informer, say arrested accused innocent

Staff Reporter

A month after killing a student preparing for competitive examination, the outlawed Maoist-terrorists have branded the student as a ‘police informer. At the same time, the Maoists have called the accused arrested in this case as ‘innocent’. The cops have countered the Maoists by stating that the student killed by outlaws was not a police informer. Also, the cops have stated that the arrested accused is a former Maoist who had served a five-year prison sentence.

The terrorists of Communist Party of India (Maoist) had brutally killed Sainath Chaitu Naroti, a resident of village Mardhur in Bhamragarh tehsil of Gadchiroli district, on March 8. The Peoples’ Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) of the CPI (Maoist) had killed Sainath, following a ‘tip-off’ from outlawed organisation’s Area Committee. As it had come to fore, Sainath Naroti was a tribal student who was preparing for competitive examinations. He was studying at Gadchiroli for the past three years and was preparing for the examinations for recruitment as Clerk, Talathi, police personnel, and other positions in Maharashtra Government.

After facing widespread criticism for killing a student, the Maoists recently issued a statement branding Sainath Naroti as a ‘police informer’. Shriniwas, Spokesperson of Western Sub-Zonal Bureau, Dandakaranya-Gadchiroli, CPI (Maoist), has signed this particular statement. Shockingly, Maoists have made an attempt to justify the killing of the tribal student by alleging in their statement that Sainath was killed ‘as he did not mend ways and kept on passing information to police’. More shocking is that the Red terrorists have called the accused Devidas Gawde ‘and 10 others’ arrested by police in connection with Sainath’s murder, as ‘innocent’ and have demanded their ‘unconditional release’.

Sandeep Patil, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Gadchiroli Range, countered the Maoist charge. He told ‘The Hitavada’ that Sainath Naroti was a student preparing for competitive examinations and not a ‘police informer’.

“Maoists have been branding youngsters studying outside their villages as police informers to pressure them to return to village. To mount pressure on students and make them quit studies, Maoists kill their relatives, ransack or even burn down their house in village. Despite that if a student is not deterred, they wait for him to return home and then kill him.” he said. Also, he pointed out that Devidas Gawde, accused arrested in the case, was a former Maoist.

Gadchiroli Police also issued a statement in this regard. As per the statement, Devidas alias Prakash alias Adwe Mura Gawde, a resident of Mardhur, had joined Permili Dalam of Naxalites in 2000. He was active in Platoon Dalam in North Gadchiroli-Gondia Division and was in Deori Dalam in 2011-12. He was first arrested on February 20, 2012, for involvement in 18 offences. On May 22, 2014, Gawde was convicted and sentenced to five years of imprisonment and penalty of Rs 1,000/- was imposed on him. In 2018, he was released after serving the prison sentence. According to police, he was residing at Mardhur and aiding the Maoists. Before the murder of Sainath, Gawde was enquiring about the tribal student and ‘also accompanied the Maoists’ when the crime took place. Besides, the cops refuted the Maoists’ allegation that 10 persons were arrested in the case.