Thirty combatants belonging to the Chintang Sukhani brigade of the First Division beat up Meghraj Rai, his 62-year-old father Nara Bahadur Rai, and 20-year-old brother Milan Rai. All three are critically injured. [break]
The combatants who traveled to the village located two kilometers east of their camp also beat up Nabin Thapa Magar, Tika Magar and Bijay Bhujel. These three received minor injuries.
“They came after we had dinner. Some worried local youths came running to my house. When I stepped out of the house, they (combatants) told me that I was a local bully, then grabbed and beat me up,” said Meghraj, who has head injuries and marks all over his body. He said the combatants beat him up for half-an-hour.
“Had family members and villagers not retaliated, they would have killed me,” he added. This is the second time Maoists have thrashed him.
Meghraj is a CPN-UML worker, which, some villagers say, is the reason why he is repeatedly targeted.
Yuvraj Thapa, a local, said the combatants enter the village at times to perpetrate their brutality. A month ago, during the Fagu Purnima festival, drunken combatants entered the village to terrorize the locals. It resulted in a scuffle that left three combatants injured. The combatants, on the other hand, vandalized two houses.
Dhan Maya Tamang, a local, said Monday´s incident was an act of revenge against retaliation of locals during past incidents.
“The combatants have not allowed us to live in peace,” she said.
Kalpana Ghimire, another local, said the combatants misbehave with local girls as well.
“We gave them our cots and food during the insurgency. They are repaying our kindness by terrorizing us,” Ghimire said.
Police acknowledged the incident. “The villagers were beaten up by Maoist combatants. But we were not able to arrest them. They had already fled by the time police team reached the village,” said Inspector Rudra Chudal of Belbari.
Locals took out a rally at the Yangshila area Tuesday to protest Monday´s incident.
Yangshila brigade commander Shiva Shrestha denied involvement of combatants in the incident.
“After receiving phone calls from all quarters informing me of combatants´ involvement, I conducted a search and found that everyone was inside the camp,” he said. He, however, admitted that such incidents have taken place in the past.
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