Naxalites kill BJP worker in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur, suspecting him to be police informer

A BJP worker, Satyam Punem, was killed by Naxalites in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh, after being accused of acting as a police informer. Maoist violence in the Bastar division has claimed nearly 40 lives so far this year.

Bijapur: Naxalites have killed a worker of the ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, suspecting him to be a police informer, officials said on Tuesday.

Satyam Punem, a resident of Mujalkanker under Ilmidi police station limits, was strangled to death by Naxalites on Monday night in the area, a police official said. After being alerted, a police team was sent to the spot, he said.

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In a handwritten pamphlet found at the spot, Madded area committee of Maoists claimed that Punem was acting as a police informer. The pamphlet said he continued to help the police despite being warned three times by the Maoist outfit, according to the police.

With this incident, nearly 40 persons have lost their lives in Maoist violence so far this year at separate places in the Bastar division comprising seven districts, including Bijapur.

Earlier, 11 BJP leaders and workers were killed between January 2023 and December 2024 in separate incidents in the division.