Chhattisgarh: Police 'notice' to panchayat representatives to move to safer area

Manpur is considered a severely affected Maoist area in Rajnandgaon district of the state which comes under the CPI (Maoist) designated MMC zone.

After Maoists killed two people in the last fifteen days in the newly formed MMC (Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh) zone, Chhattisgarh police have asked panchayat representatives of Manpur area to move to their relatives' or other safer places from far-flung villages in the jungle.

The notice issued by a Chhattisgarh police officer asking some panchayat representatives to move to safer areas due to Maoist violence has raised eyebrows.(FILE PHOTO/Representational image)

Manpur is considered a severely affected Maoist area in Rajnandgaon district which comes under the CPI (Maoist) designated MMC zone.

Stay tuned with breaking news on HT Channel on Facebook. Join Now

The state police sent a letter to the panchayat representatives in Manpur, titled ‘Notice’, stating that in the recent past, Maoists have targeted panchayat representatives/ tribals, branding them as police informers.

“ As per the police informers, some people in the area are on the target of the Maoists, hence, instead of living in far-flung jungle areas, move to safer place of some relative’s place ..” the letter written by the station house officer (SHO) of Manpur police station said.

In the last 15 days, Maoists killed two villagers under Manpur police station on the suspicion of them being police informers.

On January 24, Ramsay Gadve (30), a resident of Morarpani village, was killed by sharp-edged weapons by a group of Maoists, while a day later, Inder Sai Mandavi (75), a resident of Kamkheda village, was beaten to death by the Maoists. Both were killed on the suspicion of being police informers and were relatives of panchayat representatives.

“We have issued an advisory, not a notice to panchayat representatives who are on target of Maoists. We have urged them to move to some relative’s place or safer places because Maoists’ activity has increased. We are not forcing anyone, they can do whatever they want but they should take precautions about their security,” said additional superintendent of police Jayprakash Badai.

“The aim is to make the panchayat representatives aware of the situation, nothing more than that. We have told them to take precautions because of the increase in Maoist activity and the recent killings of tribals,” said Rajnandgaon superintendent of police (SP), D Shravan.

Other senior police officers said the language of the notice was not correct.

“The SHO might have given the notice thinking about the inability to provide security to the panchayat representatives but this is not the correct way. By this argument, all the tribals living in jungles of Bastar and other Maoist areas should move to other places. The aim of police is to provide security to the people,” said an IPS officer posted in the Maoist-affected district of the state. He didn’t wish to be named.

There are about 200 armed cadres of CPI (Maoist) working in MMC zone since the last three years. Police believe that the Maoists were moving towards the MMC zone since anti-Maoist operations had increased over the last year in the Bastar region.