522 killed by Maoists after being termed informers: Gadchiroli Police

Maoists have killed 522 people in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district after falsely accusing them of being informers, the police said on Monday. In a statement, the Gadchiroli Police said a man found dead on Monday morning in Jambhiya Gatta in the district's Ettapali tehsil, identified as Shishir Mandal (42), was not a police informer.

It said Mandal, a native of Chhattisgarh's Bande area, used to "regularly help" the Maoists and was killed due to a "financial conflict" with the latter.

Mandal was found dead around 9 am on Adenge Road with a gunshot wound on his head.

"Maoists are misleading people by accusing some to be police informers. In this way, Maoists have killed 522 innocent people," the Gadchiroli Police statement said.

The police statement, however, did not give details of the time period during which these people were killed.