Chhattisgarh: BJP worker shot dead in Naxal-affected Chowki district

A BJP worker was shot dead by unidentified assailants in a remote village in Naxal-affected Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district of Chhattisgarh on Friday, police said.

The incident took place around 7:30 pm in Sarkheda village under Aundhi police station limits when victim Birju Taram was out walking, said district Superintendent of Police Ratna Singh.

Asked whether Naxalites were involved in the incident, she said it was too early to come to a conclusion and a probe is underway.

As per eyewitnesses, Taram, who was in his early sixties, was accosted by two-three people who fired at him, leaving him dead on the spot, Singh said.

Mohla-Manpur is among the twenty constituencies which will go to polls in the first phase of two-phase assembly elections on November 7. State BJP president Arun Sao termed the incident as a targeted killing". His party workers will not be scared by such incidents and they will oust the Congress from power, he said.

The murder of BJP worker Birju Taram is yet another targeted killing of a BJP worker. BJP workers will not be scared of such an act and will not let the martyrdom go in vain, " Sao said in a video statement.

Earlier in June, a local BJP leader was killed by suspected Naxalites in Bijapur district. In February three local BJP leaders were murdered in similar incidents in Bastar divisionone in Bijapur and two in neighbouring Narayanpur district.