Naxalites kill BJP worker in Chhattisgarh; 5th civilian murder in one week

Naxalites have killed a 35-year-old BJP worker in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district while claiming he was acting as a police informer, an official said on Wednesday.

This is the fifth murder of a civilian by Naxalites in the district in the last seven days.

The latest incident took place on Tuesday night when the deceased, identified as Kudiam Mado, was at his house in Somanpalli village under Farsegarh police station limits, the official said.

A group of Naxalites stormed into Mado's house, dragged him outside and strangled him to death, the police official said.

In a pamphlet found at the spot, a national park area committee of Maoists took responsibility for the murder and claimed Mado was acting as a police informer, he said.

After being alerted on Wednesday morning, a police team rushed to the spot and the body was sent for post-mortem, the official said.

A search operation has been launched in the area to trace the assailants, he added.

On December 4, two former sarpanchs, one of them a BJP worker, were killed by Naxalites at separate places in Bijapur district.

On December 6, Naxalites killed a woman anganwadi assistant in the district.

Another woman was strangled to death by Naxalites here on December 7.

With Tuesday's incident, more than 60 persons have been killed in Naxal violence so far this year at separate places in Bastar division, which comprises seven districts including Bijapur, according to police.

Notably, nine BJP leaders were killed between January 2023 and April 2024 in separate incidents in the division.