Bastar sees yet another BJP leader fatally targeted; Maoist attacks claim 8 lives

A leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was murdered by Maoists on Friday night in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. Tripathi Katla, a 40-year-old district panchayat member living in the Bijapur headquarters area, had gone to Toynar village to attend a wedding. While returning from there, the Maoists made him their victim.

According to a report, the attack took place around 8 pm when five to seven members of a group of Maoists ambushed Tripathi Katla with weapons. Katla was seriously injured and was taken to the district hospital, but he died there. Bijapur SP Jitendra Kumar Yadav said that we are investigating the case and hope that the accused will be arrested soon. 

Many leaders will be murdered continuously in 2023

Katla has three brothers, one of whom is in the police department and is posted in Bijapur. This is the eighth incident of a BJP leader becoming a victim of Maoists in the state since last year. Before this incident, BJP worker Komal Manjhi was also murdered in Narayanpur district in December 2023. On November 4, 2023, Ratan Dubey, a prominent BJP leader and deputy chief of Narayanpur district, was also killed by Maoists. 

In February this year itself, 3 leaders were killed

This sequence of violence increased even more when Birjhu Taram was shot dead on October 20, 2023, while going to a temple. On June 21, a former sarpanch of Maoist-affected Bijapur district, Kaka Arjun, was also brutally murdered by Maoists. In the beginning of this year, i.e., in February alone, three BJP leaders were murdered. Neelkanth Kakem, BJP mandal chief of Awapalli in Bijapur district, was stabbed to death by alleged Maoists on February 5.

BJP leaders are being targeted

Just five days after this incident, on February 10, BJP's Narayanpur district unit deputy chief Sagar Sahu was shot dead by Maoists under suspicious circumstances in his own house. On February 11, Ramdhar Alami, a resident of Hitameta village, was ambushed and killed when he was returning from a religious programme in the remote village of Abujhmad.

BJP leaders are being targeted

Just five days after this incident, on February 10, BJP's Narayanpur district unit deputy chief Sagar Sahu was shot dead by Maoists under suspicious circumstances in his own house. On February 11, Ramdhar Alami, a resident of Hitameta village, was ambushed and killed when he was returning from a religious programme in the remote village of Abujhmad.