News Brief
Maoist Mayhem In Chhattisgarh: Another BJP Leader Falls Victim, Four Party Functionaries Killed This Year
A Maoist rally (Wikimedia Commons)
Maoists on Wednesday (21 June) killed a 40-year-old former sarpanch from the BJP in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, marking the fourth such killing of a local BJP leader or functionary this year by the left-wing terrorists in the state.
At around 4.30 pm, villagers found Kaka Arjun's body with wounds inflicted from a sharp weapon lying in the middle of the road.
Arjun was a resident of Ilmidi Kasaram Para village, reports Indian Express.
A case of murder has been registered against a local Maoist area committee group by the Ilmidi police station.
The group left behind a note taking responsibility for the murder.
The note found on the body, under some rocks to prevent it from flying away, stated that Arjun had been working for the BJP since 2014 and was against the banned Community Party of India (Maoists).
It also threatened anyone who works against the banned organisation with the same fate.
Between 5 and 11 February of this year, Maoists killed three BJP leaders or functionaries.
Three Maoists stabbed Neelkanth Kakem (48), BJP’s divisional head of Awapalli in Bijapur district, on 5 February, resulting in his death.
On 10 February, two suspected Maoists shot Sagar Sahu (47), deputy chief of the BJP’s Narayanpur district unit, at his home.
On 11 February, a group of Naxals killed Ramdhar Alami (43), a Hitameta village resident who was returning after conducting religious rituals in a village deep inside Abujhmad.
Following the incidents in February, several BJP leaders, including party’s national president J P Nadda and state unit president Arun Sao, claimed that BJP leaders were being “targeted” in Chhattisgarh and it was a “political conspiracy”.
In response, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had lashed out at state and national BJP leaders for suggesting a “political link” to the murders of the party members in the state and said the Opposition party can seek probe by central agencies if it doesn’t trust the state police.
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