Chinnram Gota, a leader of the erstwhile anti-Naxalite movement, Salwa Judum, in Bijapur was killed by Maoists at Pusler village under the Farsegarh police station on Friday. One of Mr. Gota’s guards, Mangal Kursam, was also killed. Mr. Gota was targeted twice by the Maoists in 2009 and earlier this year.
Mr. Gota had gone to the village to inspect the harvest when he and his guards were encircled by the rebels. One of the villagers told The Hindu that the rebels fired at Mr. Gota and then attacked him with sharp weapons. He died on the spot.
The other guard, Korsa Budhram, who was also injured in the incident, has been hospitalised.
Mr. Gota was one of the main leaders of the Salwa Judum and first started the campaign in his village. Eventually, he set up a network of villagers and vigilante forces in the area. “In recent years, he left the Salwa Judum to work as a farmer,” Bijapur’s police chief Prashant Agarwal told The Hindu .
