Sarpanch candidate killed in Dantewada, police suspect Maoist hand

A 52-year-old former sarpanch, who was contesting in the upcoming local bodies’ elections in Chhattisgarh, was hacked to death by unidentified men in Dantewada on Thursday (February 6, 2025). The police suspect the murder was carried out by Maoists.

According to the police, the assailants entered the residence of the victim Joga Barse in Aranpur village on Thursday night and attacked him fatally with an axe in front of his family members, a police officer said.

Also Read | Maoists kill man after accusing him of being informer in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada

Barse, a resident of Sarpanch Para locality in the village had served as sarpanch of Aranpur village panchayat in the past. His wife is the incumbent village head, the officer added.

Barse was contesting for the same post in the panchayat elections, voting for which will be conducted in the State on February 17, 20, and 23. Dantewada district will also see panchayat elections in three phases.

No pamphlet was found at the spot, as is the case with such murders in interior Bastar villages where Naxalites have targeted villagers for being political workers or accusing them of police informers, documenting the motive or trigger explicitly. However, given the similarity in the modus operandi, the timing of the murder coinciding with the elections and location of the village in a sensitive area have prompted the police to suspect that the Maoists are involved, said another officer. 

This officer added that there was another murder in the village in the early hours of February 5 in a similar manner and they suspect that the two murders could be linked. “We will speak to family members after the last rites are held to get further clarity on the motive,” the officer said. 

Also Read | Maoist killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh

Barse was earlier associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and joined the Congress in 2019. Although the panchayat elections are not contested on party lines, he was supported by the Congress. 

Besides the Dantewada incident, Maoists allegedly killed two men, one of them their former colleague, in neighbouring Bijapur district in the first week of February. According to the police, 68 civilians were killed last year in separate incidents of Naxal violence in Bastar region comprising seven districts, including Bijapur.