Suspected Maoists shot dead a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activist in West Bengal's Lalgarh region Sunday, police said.
West Midnapore district police sources said the body of CPI-M worker Dinabandhu Soren was found in a forest in Dharampur in Lalgarh in the morning.
Soren, a resident of Kadamdiha village, was abducted from his house Saturday night by gun toting rebels, who appear to be deeply entrenched in the region.
The joint security operation against the Maoists, launched in June, seems to have achieved limited success so far with the leftwing rebels abducting and killing CPI-M activists and torching government offices and houses of tribal leaders opposed to them almost daily.
The Maoist rebels are mainly active in 30 police station areas of the state's three western districts - West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.