Mulugu: Adivasi life is on the razor's edge

Mulugu: Even as the Agency mourns the death of one of its sons, a pertinent question doing rounds was whom Korsa Ramesh belonged to a CPI-Maoist sympathiser or a police informer or a forced double agent? His killing by the outlawed Maoists may not be the first or for that matter last. They had killed many in the past labeling them as covert or police informers.

Life has become miserable for the Adivasis living in the corridors of Left Wing insurgency areas. Much to that of a saying in Telugu, - Karavamante kappaki kopam vidavamante pamuki kopam (If asked to bite, the frog would be angry; if asked to let go, the snake would be angry), those living in the Dandakaranya region are in a fix. Their predicament is that neither they could deny the dictum of the police nor the Maoists.

Ramesh did have connections with the banned outfit during his stint as the Sarpanch of Suraveedu gram panchayat under Venkatapuram mandal. It's a forced scenario for almost all the Sarpanches in the Agency whether they sympathise with the Maoists or not. Nothing matters as long as they escape the glare of the police. In this case, the police knew Ramesh had contacts with the banned outfit.

The moot point here is that Ramesh had turned a double agent - both for the Maoists and police. The Maoists in a letter purportedly released in the name of Shantha, secretary, Wajedu-Venkatapuram Area Committee, on Wednesday said that Ramesh had become a 'double agent' in 2019 after Vemkatapuram sub-inspector B Tirupathi enticed him with monetary benefits, besides threatening him.

The letter said that Ramesh, acting on the directions of police, had once supplied them with milk powder adulterated with some poisonous substance. It led to the death of a Maoist, Myadari Bikshapathi alias Vijender, besides leaving a few others sick. The letter also accused Ramesh of tipping off a lead to police that led to an encounter. Of late, Ramesh has been instigating Adivasis to become double agents, Maoists said.

Meanwhile, the locals said that the pressure exerted by the police led to the death of Ramesh in the hands of Maoists.

Ramesh was abducted by the Maoists on December 20, and his body was found near Kothapally village on the Chhattisgarh side. The villagers staged a protest with the body on the Wajedu-Bhadrachalam main road. They raised slogans against the police, especially sub-inspector B Tirupathi.

Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police Sangramsingh G Patil said, "The Maoists summoned Ramesh over a phone call to meet them and picked him up at Bheemaram (Chhattisgarh) on December 20. Later, they detained and tortured him before shot him to dead. Ramesh's body was found near Kothapally. This is very common for the ultras to kill civilians, who do not listen to their diktat, branding them as police informers."