DANTEWADA: The outlawed CPI (Maoist) brutally killed a village sarpanch of Chote Gundra, in the strife-torn Dantewada district about 450 km south of Raipur, the police said on Saturday.
The attack came barely six days after the Election Commission declared Assembly by-polls for tribal-dominated Dantewada constituency.
The police believed that the sarpanch Lakhma Ram Mandavi was suspected by the rebels as an informer.
The incident is also seen as an attempt to create an environment of terror ahead of the by-elections in the district.
“The Maoists hacked sarpanch to death by sharp-edged weapons. The Naxals though had not left any pamphlet or owned the responsibility so far. We have sent the body for post-mortem. As per the preliminary information he was being called to attend a meeting organised by Maoists but the sarpanch didn’t turn-up following which the suspicious against him gathered strength”, Dantewada district superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava told the Express.
Dantewada is likely to witness a bipolar contest between the Congress and the BJP in another round of the poll battle to be held on September 23.