BJP functionary hacked to death at wedding in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

Neelkanth Kakem is the second BJP functionary to be killed over the last month in Chhattisgarh’s Left-wing insurgency-hit Bijapur

Maoists hacked a 40-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary to death at a wedding in Chhattisgarh’s Left-wing insurgency-hit Bijapur district on Sunday, a police officer said on Monday.

Police said Kakem was the president of BJP’s Awapalli Mandal. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Neelkanth Kakem is the second BJP functionary to be killed over the last month in Bijapur. Unidentified attackers killed another BJP functionary in Bijapur last month. Police have not confirmed whether Maoists were involved in that killing as the accused remained at large

Inspector general of police Sundarraj P said Kakem was the president of BJP’s Awapalli Mandal. He added some unidentified Maoists attacked him with sharp-edged weapons when he was at the wedding of a relative with his family on Sunday evening.

“He [Kajkem] died on the spot and Maoists fled. Soon after being alerted, a police team went to the spot and the body was sent for post-mortem,” said Sundarraj P. He added a search operation was launched in the nearby jungles to track down the attackers. Sundarraj P said the exact reason behind the murder was yet to be ascertained.