Naxals kill Panchayat Secretary in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: A Panchayat Secretary was killed by naxalites in Maoist-hit Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, police said today.

Hingaram Kodiyam, cousin brother of late Chinnaram Gota, who was a leader of the erstwhile anti-Naxalite movement Salwa Judum, was killed by ultras near Keshkutul village under Bhairmgarh police station limits last night, Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Indira Kalyan Elesela said.

Prima facie, it appears that the victim was killed with sharp-edged weapons, the ASP said.

According to villagers, a group of naxalites stormed into the victim's house yesterday in Kehskutul village where he is the Panchayat Secretary and dragged him out of his home.

Kodiyam's body was found lying in a pool of blood in a restive patch of Bhairamgarh-Kutru road this morning, the ASP said.

Soon after receiving information, security forces were immediately dispatched to the spot, the official said, adding, Kodiyam's body has been recovered.

The reason behind the attack was yet to be known, he said, adding that security forces have launched combing in the region to nab the assailants.

A former Janpad member and influential Salwa Judum leader, Chinnaram Gota was gunned down by Maoists in Bijapur in December 2012.

A police jawan, who was guarding him, had also lot his life in the incident. Later, the elder brother of Gota, Banshilal was also killed by naxals in May last year.

Salwa Judum, an anti-Maoist civil militia, was disarmed and disbanded in the state following the Supreme Court order declaring as illegal and unconstitutional the deployment of tribal youth as special police officers in the fight against Maoist insurgency.