Rajendra Sahu, a former cricketer, was shot dead by suspected Maoists at Gothalpadar village in Orissa’s Rayagada district on Thursday night. The Maoists killed him suspecting him to be a police informer, police said. His father Nrushingha Sahu was killed by Maoists in August 2002.
Thirty-year-old Rajendra played several cricket matches in Andhra Pradesh. He had returned to his village last year to settle down there.
He had married a local girl a few weeks ago. He went out of his house to take a stroll along with a friend near the village pond when a group of armed men in uniform fired at him. His friend Surendra Sahu managed to escape. When Surendra returned to the spot with villagers, he saw Rajendra lying in a pool of blood.