A BJP worker was shot dead by unidentified assailants in a remote village in Naxal-affected Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district of Chhattisgarh.
Superintendent of Police Ratna Singh said that the incident took place at 7 30 PM in Sarkheda village within the jurisdiction of Aundhi police station. The victim, Birju Taram, was ambushed while he was taking a walk.
Singh said that it was premature to draw conclusions if Naxalites were involved in the incident, adding probe in the case is underway.
“According to eyewitness accounts, Taram, aged in his early sixties, was confronted by a group of two or three individuals who shot him, resulting in his immediate death,” the cop said.
Mohla-Manpur is one of the twenty constituencies scheduled for the first phase of the two-phase Assembly elections on November 7.
Arun Sao, state BJP president, called the incident as a “deliberate assassination.” He emphasized that his party’s members would not be intimidated by such occurrences and vowed to remove the Congress from power in the upcoming Chhattisgarh elections.
“The killing of Birju Taram, a BJP worker, marks yet another deliberate assassination of a BJP member. Our party workers will not succumb to fear due to such an atrocity, and they are determined not to let the sacrifice go to waste,” Sao declared in a video statement.
Earlier in June, a local BJP leader was allegedly murdered by suspected Naxalites in Bijapur district. Additionally, in February, three local BJP leaders fell victim to similar incidents in the Bastar division—one in Bijapur and two in the neighbouring Narayanpur district.
(Inputs from PTI)