Kondagaon's new SP Prashant Agarwal told PTI that when Maoists opened fire on May 17, out of the five deputed policemen, only one them, Ratanlal was present on duty at the minister's house.
Head constable Vishwarajsingh Solanki alongwith three others --Amarnath Nag, Farsuram Markam and Vritnarayan Bhagat -- were suspended for negligence, he said.
Left alone during the attack, Ratanlal was killed after the assailants took away his weapon, Agarwal said.
Usendi was not in the house when three suspected Maoists, riding a motorcycle, fired at it on Thursday. Some relatives of the minister were present in the house at the time of the incident but they were unharmed.
Following the incident, the Chhattisgarh government immediately removed Kondagaon SP Deepak Jha and replaced him with Commandant Prashant Agarwal from the State Armed Forces (fifth battalion).