Three days after a sarpanch from the Gondia district was kidnapped by Naxals, his body was found abandoned on a road with bullet injuries on Thursday. The police had launched a manhunt in the nearby jungles to trace Koretti and the Naxals soon after he was abducted, but could not find them.
The police said that the Naxals killed him because he used to extort money from contractors posing as a Naxal agent. The sarpanch, the police claimed, had also misappropriated government funds in 2010 for which an offence was registered against him.
Ghanshyam Koretti, sarpanch of Istari village in Deora in the Gondia district was kidnapped from his residence on May 7 evening by armed Naxals. The Chinchgad police found his body abandoned on a road adjoining the jungle in the Mispiri village, with bullet injuries on his body.
“Koretti used to extort money from contractors posing as a mediator for the Naxals. He had been warned by the Naxals from refraining to so in the past. Koretti also used to threaten villagers asking them to follow only his instructions, which further angered the Naxals,” said assistant inspector S.R. Narnavre from the Chinchgad police station.
Narnavre said that Koretti had also appropriated government funds by submitting forged bills for building a water tank in the village in 2010. “Koretti had taken `3.5 lakh from the government fund that was allocated under the ‘Jal Swarajya Yojana’ for building a water tank in the village. He did not build the tank, but claimed the money by submitting forged documents. An offence under Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust was registered against
Koretti at that time,” he said.
Koretti’s body was taken to a hospital in Gondia, where an autopsy was conducted.
The police has now intensified its search and dispatched several teams into the jungles as they suspect that the Naxals would not have been able to go very far after abandoning the body. A high alert has been declared in the district in the wake of the incident, sources said.