Maoists gun down labourer in Palamau

A labourer has been killed by the Maoists as he refused to pay extortion money at Dungri village in Palamau district, the police said here today.Raj Dev Turi (42) was dragged out from his house by a dozen armed Maoists and shot him dead last night after he refused to pay them ‘levy’ (extortion), Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sudarshan Mandal, told newsmen here.Turi was working as a labourer in some MG-NREGA schemes, he said and added that his body was found this morning and sent for post mortem.In a separate incident at Hotukdag village, an FIR was lodged against a postmaster, panchayat sevak rozgar sevak and a supervisor of MG-NREGA, after a probe report found them ‘guilty’ of withdrawing unspecified amount of MG-NREGA funds from the post office, according to a press release issued by the Palamau district administration.Of the four accused, the release only mentioned the name of the Panchayat Sevak, Pradip Ram.The administration also served a show cause notice to the Chhatarpur Block Development Officer in this regard.Additional Collector Mukul Kumar Pandey had investigated into the alleged withdrawal of cash meant for MG-NREGA labourers.