A Small Action Team (SAT) of proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) has killed a former Maoist in a late night development that unfolded in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, July 6.
The incident took place under the Maoist infested Kistaram police station limits of Sukma district when a number of cadres belonging to the SAT team of Maoists barged into the house of their former accomplice, Barse Masa and stabbed him to death subsequently.
As per the inputs received, the Maoists took Barse along with them forcibly to a nearby place where they stabbed him to death labelling the latter a traitor. The Maoist also dropped a handwritten note before fleeing the scene.
In the note, the outlaws while alleging Barse for acting against the violent group threatened that anyone who will follow suit will meet the same fate as Barse. The responsibility of the murder was claimed by the Kistaram Area Committee of the CPI Maoist.
The slain villager Barse had recently surrendered before the Andhra Pradesh police and had returned to his ancestral village in Sukma a week ago. Prior to his surrender, Barse was reported to be associated with the Maoist outfit for over a decade.
Back to back killings of civilians
Significantly, this is overall the third killing of a civilian that have been carried out by the banned outfit within a span of only 10 days in Chhattisgarh.
Earlier in a similar incident reported from Maoist’s stronghold of Abujhmaad of Narayanpur district, a villager was also mercilessly beaten to death by the Maoists on July 3.
The deceased was identified as Chaituram Mandavi, a resident of Thulthuli Panchayat who was brutally beaten to death on alleged charges of espionage. Chaituram was reported to be a Gayta (community head) of his village.
The killing of Chaituram occurred almost a month after security forces in a significant operation gunned down as many as six Maoists in an exchange of fire in the Thulthuli area.
The incident at Thulthuli follows the brutal killing of a 30-year-old youth by the Maoists on June 30 in Narayanpur district itself. The slain youth was later identified as Sannu Usendi, a resident of Nelangur village under the Kohkameta police station limits of Orchha.
According to the details, Usendi who had arrived in Nelangur was abducted by the Maoists a day prior to his murder following which his body was found near Batumpara Chowk of Orchha on June 30.
The extremists also dropped a handwritten note accusing the deceased for the Kutul encounter that unfolded a fortnight ago before Usendi murder in the Kohkometa area itself.
Read more at: 8 Maoists killed after a brief exchange of fire in Narayanpur, one jawan martyred
It must be noted that an encounter between the forces and Maoists between the Farasbeda and Kodtameta forests area had led to the killing of as many as eight Maoist terrorists on June 15.
Two dozen civilians killed so far in 2024
It is worth mentioning here that this is not the only time that the Maoists have carried out targeted killing against the dissenting voices in the Maoist-hit areas of the state and around two dozen civilians have already been killed in separate incidents linked to Maoist terror in the last six months alone.
The ratio seems to be much higher as compared to the figures of civilians’ causalities that occurred in the year 2022 and 2023 where the total tally of the consecutive years stands at 37 and 30 respectively, according to the figures available at South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP).
This comes amidst the amplified operations of security forces in the stronghold of Maoists which led to the neutralization of as many as 141 Maoists terrorists in the last six months alone which has already surpassed the total numbers of Maoists eliminated (99) between the period of 2021 to 2023.
