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A local Bharatiya Janata Party functionary has been killed by suspected Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, the police said on Thursday.
The body of Kaka Arjun (52) was found on Wednesday evening on Kongupalli-Ilmidi road in Bijapur, located more than 400 km from state capital Raipur, they said.
Arjun was the secretary of BJP Bijapur district unit's Scheduled Tribe wing, as per the party.
The opposition BJP in the state termed it as a "targeted" killing and demanded a high-level probe into it while claiming Maoists had protection of the ruling Congress.
However, the Congress condemned the incident and said the BJP should not politicise it.
Arjun, who served as the sarpanch (head) of Ilmidi village panchayat between 2016-2020, had gone to Semaldodi village with his wife on his motorcycle after being called by someone at around 10 am on Wednesday, Bijapur additional superintendent of police Chandrakant Gavarna said.
After reaching there, he dropped his wife and went inside the forest along with five unidentified persons, dressed as civilians.
When he did not return for a long time, his wife came back home, he said.
Later, the body was found lying on the road, the official said.
A pamphlet issued in the name of the Madded area committee of Maoists was found at the spot, claiming Arjun was associated with the BJP since 2014 and working against the outlawed Community Party of India-Maoists, the police said.
The pamphlet also mentioned that if any person associated with the BJP was found to be working against the CPI-Maoists, he/she will meet the same fate, they said.
A search operation was underway in the area, the police said.
The BJP termed it as a case of “targeted” killing and demanded a high-level probe into it.
“Secretary of Bijapur district unit's Scheduled Tribe wing Arjun Kaka was brutally murdered by Maoists..The way in which BJP workers are being targeted and mercilessly killed by Maoists in the Congress government, indicates towards a major conspiracy,” the state BJP unit tweeted.
It claimed Maoists have protection of the Congress and that this has been proved from time-to-time with evidence.
The Congress government has failed to contain Maoists and it is protecting them like a guardian, the BJP alleged and demanded a high-level inquiry into these incidents.
When contacted, state Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla slammed the BJP, accusing it of politicising the incident.
“We condemn the incident. It is really painful. The BJP should not do politics over it by terming it as a targeted killing,” he said.
“If the BJP is terming the incident as targeted killing, then what was that when our party leaders were killed in the Jhiram valley attack in Bastar in 2013. That was a targeted killing,” Shukla claimed.
The Congress government has "zero tolerance" policy towards the Maoist movement, and the incidents of Maoist violence have declined in the last four years, he said.