Motihari, Jan. 27: Naxalites gunned down Sheo Chandra Singh, a former mukhiya and a farmer, while he was sitting near in his courtyard in Champaran village on Wednesday evening.

The rebels left at least two posters that read “Maowadi zindabad” at the site of incident.

The day was also marked with several other incidents, including the hoisting of a black flag by members of CPI (Maoist) on a middle school at Panapur and the murder of a motorcyclist who was killed by criminals near Lalbegia ghat under Motihari muffasil police station area on yesterday evening.

Panapur, where Maoists hoisted a black flag on a school building, is adjacent to the native village (Narha) of the Motihari MP and former BJP state president Radha Mohan Singh, while Lalbegia ghat is situated at a distance of about 10km from Motihari.

According to reports, the deceased farmer who was a former mukhiya of Jihuli panchayat had been a target of the Naxalites for in the past few years and had also received letters demanding levy.

Residents of the area said the Naxalites also warned him earlier through posters and handbills ordering him not to sell off the mango orchard on about three acres of land and to forego his claims over a village pond.

Police superintendent of East Champaran, Paras Nath confirmed the incident as the work of the Maoists, confirming that the posters were also found near the incident site.

He told The Telegraph: “Sheo Chandra alias Sheoji was suddenly raided nearly by half a dozen armed guerrillas of the out of his house around 7.30 in the evening while he was sitting outside his house near a bonfire along with some other villagers. After minutes of scuffle they shot him dead.”

It was the third incident when any sitting or former mukhiya was shot dead only under the Patahi block area since 2005. Besides about six others among their counterparts from different other blocks under the Pakridayal sub-division in this district who were also mowed down since then. Meanwhile the local MLA and chairman of the Assembly’s Zero Hour committee Avaneesh Kumar Singh expressed shock over the incident.

“The brutal killing of the farmer was a result of police inaction in the sensitive East Champaran district. He has said despite police station being 1 km from the spot, the police took over 1.5 hours to reach the place, that too after repeated persuasion,” he told The Telegraph on phone.

Chandeshwar Rai, former mukhiya of Saraiya panchayat was also gunned down on December 4 2008 in a similar fashion.

It was the 35th major incident by the Maoists since 1995.