Proscribed Maoist outfit CPI-M on February 28 claimed responsibility for the brutal murder of Army Jawan on February 25 near Useli village fair market in Kanker of Chhattisgarh. As per the reports, a Maoist banner has surfaced in the Fufgaon village near the Aamabeda forest area of Kanker, in which the Kumweri area committee of the outlawed outfit has claimed responsibility for the murder.
According to the information received, the Maoists in the banner have accused the government of corporatisation of Bastar; the banner recovered by the police read, “Motiram Anchala was killed as a protest against the Agniveer scheme and industrialisation of Bastar. We are also against the large-scale deputation of security forces in Bastar.”
Speaking on the development, IG Bastar range Sundarraj P said that the “Maoist have claimed responsibility through the banner, we have already initiated an enquiry in the matter, and we will be investigating the case through all the possible angels.”
It should be noted that Motiram Anchala, a jawan of the Army Service Corps who had come to his native village Bade Tava of Kanker, to meet his expecting wife, was shot dead by the armed cadres of the outlawed CPI Maoists on February 25 when the jawan was buying some daily essentials in the nearby Useli village fair market.
It was first of a kind incident when the ultras targeted and killed an army jawan; earlier, it was speculated that it could be a case of mistaken identity as the jawan had many times visited his home and never received any warnings from the Maoists.
It is worth mentioning that the opposition parties, including the Congress, had opposed the Agniveer scheme launched by the government in June last year, given which wide-scale violent protests were also organised, which lasted for many days had left many trains burnt by the protestors. Later in a document made only for internal distribution within the cadre of the outlawed outfit, the Maoist group admitted its role in holding a protest against the scheme.
