BJP worker killed in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur; Naxalites suspected: Police

A local worker of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was killed by suspected Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Friday evening, police said.

This was the seventh killing of a BJP leader or member by suspected Naxalites in Maoist-affected areas of the state in the last one year. The incident took place around 8 pm at Toynar village when Tirupati Katla, a BJP member of the Janpad Panchayat, was attending a wedding, a senior official said. As Katla left the venue of the function, he was attacked with sharp-edged weapons.

He was shifted to the Bijapur district hospital where he succumbed to injuries, the official added.

Ahead of the assembly polls in November, Ratan Dubey, the BJP's Narayanpur district unit vice president, was hacked to death while he was campaigning. On October 20 last year, BJP worker Birju Taram was shot dead at Sarkheda village in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district.

In June 2023, a local BJP leader was killed by Naxalites in Bijapur district, while in February last year three BJP leaders were murdered in separate incidents in the Bastar division.