A worker of the Communist Party of India (CPI) was killed by Naxals in Sukma district of poll-bound Chhattisgarh on Wednesday afternoon, according to PTI. The victim Kalmu Dhruva’s wife is a sarpanch of the Bodko village.
“According to villagers, he was brutally beaten to death with sticks by the ultras”, said Sukma Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena.
The Naxals have called for a boycott of the Assembly elections. 18 constituencies in eight Naxal-affected districts, Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon, have polls on November 12.
According to reports, Dhruva’s brother was also killed by the Naxals two months ago. He had fled to Andhra Pradesh due to the fear of being killed by the Naxals. He was killed when he returned. The two brothers were on the target of the Naxals for a long time as they were suspected of spying on them.
A few days ago the Centre had ordered the tightening of security in the state based on the inputs from the intelligence agencies about ‘assiduous preparations’ of Naxals to interrupt the two-phase elections. The red terrorists have called for a boycott of the assembly elections, calling the election process as “fictitious”.
Chhattisgarh has been struggling with Naxal insurgency for years. There have been many instances of Naxal violence against locals in recent months. Recently, a Doordarshan cameraman and two CRPF personnel were killed by Naxals in an ambush. In September, two tribals from Chhattisgarh were killed and their bodies were dumped in Gadchiroli area in Maharashtra after Naxals suspected them of being police informers.
