Suspected Maoists kill BJP leader, Nadda targets Chhattisgarh govt

Though no material claiming responsibility for the attack on Sagar Sahu (52), the vice-president of BJP’s Narayanpur district unit, has been recovered from the spot, police suspect it could be a handiwork of Maoists, a senior officer said.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has been shot dead allegedly by two unidentified people, suspected to be Maoists, in Narayanpur district in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, police said on Saturday, even as BJP national president JP Nadda hit out at the Congress government over increased attacks by Left-wing extremists on his party leaders in the poll-bound state.

Sagar Sahu (52), the vice-president of BJP’s Narayanpur district unit, was killed by two unidentified persons suspected to be Maoists. (HT)

Though no material claiming responsibility for the attack on Sagar Sahu (52), the vice-president of BJP’s Narayanpur district unit, has been recovered from the spot, police suspect it could be a handiwork of Maoists, a senior officer said.

“The attack took place at around 9pm on Friday when Sagar Sahu was at his home in Chhotedongar village,” said inspector general of police (IGP), Bastar range, Sunderaj P. “Two unidentified persons barged into Sahu’s house and shot him in front of his family members before fleeing the spot.”

Sahu was rushed to the local hospital in Chhotedongar and was later referred to the Narayanpur district hospital, where he succumbed to his bullet injuries, said the officer.

“Prima facie the incident seems to be the handiwork of a small action team of Maoists, but we are investigating the killing from all angles,” the IGP said. “A combing operation has been launched in the nearby forest.”

This is the second such incident in the last one week in which a BJP leader has been killed by suspected Maoists in Bastar region.

On February 5, a 40-year-old BJP leader in Bastar’s Bijapur district was killed by suspected Maoists when he had gone to attend a wedding function at Paikram village under Awapalli police station area. The leader, Neelkanth Kakem, president of Awapalli Mandal unit of the BJP, was hacked to death in front of his relatives.

Meanwhile, BJP president JP Nadda, who was on a day-long tour of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, which will go to assembly polls later this year, on Saturday visited Narayanpur and met family members of Sahu. Expressing grief over the incident, Nadda said the entire BJP was with the deceased party leader’s family.

“The Maoist attacks in the Congress government are continuously increasing and BJP leaders are being targeted. In the last one month, three local BJP leaders have been killed, which reflects the condition of Bastar region,” Nadda said in Narayanpur, asserting his party would fight the “ideological battle” with Maoists in a democratic manner and win it.

Last month, a BJP leader and former sarpanch of Usoor village in Bijapur district was killed by unidentified people. However, police have not yet confirmed the role of Maoists behind the killing. The accused are still on the run, said a police officer.

Sahu was on the “hit-list” of Maoists for the last few years because of his support to mining activities in nearby areas, a senior police officer said, requesting anonymity.

“He was also threatened by Maoists last year, when a pamphlet warning him for his support for mining was found,” said the officer.

Reacting to Nadda’s allegations, the Congress claimed the senior BJP leader was trying to misled the people of Chhattisgarh. “Nadda ji is the president of ruling BJP at Centre and he can retrieve figures from the Union home ministry that shows the Naxal violence has gone down in Chhattisgarh in the last four years,” said senior Congress leader and spokesperson RP Singh. “Actually, he is misleading people of Chhattisgarh.”