Congress worker attacked, killed by suspected Naxalites in Chhattisgarh

Bijapur: A Congress worker was attacked and killed allegedly by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday, police said.

Prima facie, the killing appears to be the handiwork of Naxalites, but all possible angles were being probed, they said.

The incident occurred in Usoor village around 4 pm when the victim, Tirupati Bhandari (35), who worked at a ration shop, was distributing rice to villagers, an official here said.

"Unidentified persons arrived at the scene and attacked Bhandari with sharp weapons, killing him on the spot," he said.

A team from Usoor police station reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem, the official said.

According to official sources, Bhandari, a native of Marudbaka village, lived in Bijapur and was the general secretary of the Congress's Usoor block unit. He had served as deputy sarpanch in the past.

Notably, nine BJP leaders were killed by Naxalites between January 2023 and April 2024 in separate incidents in the Naxal-affected Bastar division comprising seven districts, including Bijapur.