BHOPAL: A ruling BJP municipal councillor with a criminal past was shot dead in broad daylight by multiple assailants in Datia district of northern Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
The killing took place in the Sewda Chungi area when Kallu Kushwaha, a middle-aged BJP councillor from Ward No. 1 of Datia Nagar Palika, was returning home after offering prayers at a temple at around 9 am.
Three men stopped Kushwaha and fired multiple shots at him, causing gunshot wounds to his head, back and chest. He fell on the spot and died.
Preliminary investigations point to the killing being a case of revenge.
In 2016, Kushwaha, who was then with the Congress, along with his aides, had murdered Bal Kishun Kushwaha, the brother-in-law of a sitting BJP woman councillor at the time.
Nine years later, in February 2025, Kushwaha and the other accused in the case were awarded life imprisonment. He appealed against the lower court’s sentence in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which admitted his appeal and granted him bail in December 2025.
Nearly four months later, he was murdered, possibly by individuals linked to Bal Kishun Kushwaha’s family, on Tuesday morning.
Kushwaha had switched from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the civic polls in July 2022 and subsequently won from Ward No. 1 of Datia Nagar Palika as the ruling party’s candidate.
According to Datia district Superintendent of Police Suraj Verma, the councillor’s family has named at least six persons in connection with the killing.
The six accused named in the FIR include Golu Kushwaha, Sudhir Kushwah, Pankaj alias Chotu Kushwaha, Umesh Kushwaha, Sahib Singh Yadav and Praveen Valmiki. Two of the accused are reportedly nephews of Bal Kishun Kushwaha, who was murdered by Kallu Kushwaha and his aides in 2016.
According to Datia police sources, the slain BJP councillor had a criminal history and, since 2011, had been accused in at least 15 criminal cases registered across multiple police stations in Datia district. These include seven cases at the Civil Lines police station, two of them for murder, and one for rape.
“Multiple police teams have been formed to crack the murder case and we’re hopeful of rounding up all the accused soon,” SP Verma said.