Bhubaneswar, Nov. 16: Stepping up violence, Maoists today killed the headman or sarpanch of Bhubanpalli village in MV79 police limits of Malkangiri district in Odisha.

The incident comes a day after a ward member was shot dead by the rebels in Balangir district, which is fast emerging as a Maoist bastion.

Sources said the body of Rama Kunja, the headman of Bhubanpalli, was found in the morning by fellow villagers who informed the police.

The rebels, who suspected him to be an informer, had slit his throat with a sharp weapon.

However, Malkangiri superintendent of police, Aniruddha Singh denied that Maoists were behind the incident. He said the murder of Kunja was the fallout of his rivalry with some people.

Singh’s denial notwithstanding, reliable sources in the area said it was a Maoist killing as the rebels suspected him of being close to police.

This, incidentally, is not the first time that Maoists have targeted village heads in the district that made headlines in February this year when a collector and a junior engineer were kidnapped by the rebels.

Sources said senior police officials have been worried about the increased activity of the Maoists not only in Malkangiri and its adjoining areas but also districts such as Balangir and Nuapada where the rebels are trying hard to gain a foothold.

In fact, their prime concern at the moment seems to be containing rebel violence in Balangir where a ward member was gunned down on Monday.

“Balangir has never reported Maoist activities in the past. The radicals are apparently trying to exploit the poverty and backwardness of the district. But this is a dangerous trend as they may now try to push into newer areas like neighbouring Kalahandi, which has a similar socio-demographic profile,” said a senior government official.

Even more significantly, the Maoists are now also trying to target industries and mines which may hit the state’s economy badly.

They had made their intentions clear in this regard a few years ago when they attacked a bauxite mine owned by a private company in Koraput district and looted a massive amount of explosives from the site after killing 10 Central Industrial Security Force jawans who were on guard duty.