Madhu Watte Kulyami, the victim and brother of a police constable, was suspected of being a police informer and hacked to death with an axe, police sources at the range office here said.

According to information reaching here, over a dozen Naxalites, led by the dalam commander Dinesh alias Bajirao Bukki Yelam of Medpalli, descended on Madhu's house and forced his parents out while asking for Madhu and his brother.

They thrashed his father, Watte Lebdu Kulyami, and mother as well prior to tying their limbs with a rope. Meanwhile, some of the dalam members fetched Madhu and his brother, Pandu (23), from a farm nearby where they were working and started asking for their elder brother who had joined the policerecently.

Even as they went about thrashing the Kulyamis, the Naxalites berated Watte for being a police informer and participating in election campaigning. In a single blow, the assailants beheaded Madhu and threw his body in the courtyard of his house.