Malkangiri: Throwing a serious challenge to security forces, the Left Wing Extremists gunned down a 45-year-old launch driver at Chitrakonda reservoir in presence of locals at 11 am on Sunday.

After killing Sama Pangi, who used to deliver provisions to the camp of the Border Security Force (BSF) located at Kunturpadar inside the reservoir, the Maoists sped away with the launch.

The daring act took place at about 11 am at Chitrakonda’s spill-way launch ghat where about a dozen shops are located.

The Maoists, about eight of them, arrived at the ghat in a boat. Two of them got down and shot at Pangi killing him on the spot.

The two, who shot Pangi, took control of the launch stocked with provisions for the security forces and drove it away while the six others followed them in their boat.

Sources said Koraput dalam chief of CPI (Maoist) Uday was leading the operation.

While Pangi is believed to have been targeted on the pretext that he was a police informer, the Maoists have posed a bigger challenge by showing that they are now comfortable operating in the waterways.

On October 16, the Maoists had looted provisions from two boats near Kotagoda ghat.

The Red rebels have been increasingly making use of boats to ply in the cut-off region.

This is the second killing by the CPI (Maoist) in as many days. On Saturday, they had killed another person in Kandhamal-Kalahandi border during a one-day bandh call over the gangrape of a tribal girl of Koraput.