Bijapur Congress worker killed 7 months ago, Maoists now hack his brother to death
A 45-year-old Congress worker was hacked to death by Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday night, seven months after his brother was also killed.
Naga Bhandari had gone to Lingapur, under the jurisdiction of Usoor police station, to celebrate a social event when at around 11.30 pm, a small action team of Maoists attacked him with an axe.
In October last year, his brother Tirupati Bhandari, 35, was hacked to death by Maoists in Usoor village.
Tirupati had been running the public distribution system (PDS) and was attacked while he was distributing rice. After Tirupati's death, his brother Naga took over the work.
Before 2019, the Bhandari family lived in Marudbaka village, where Tirupati was the sarpanch.
Two brothers from the family had joined the security forces — one in the District Reserve Guard (DRG) another in the Bastariya battalion of the CRPF. This had angered the Maoists.
Maoists also suspected Tirupati of being a police informant and threatened him and his family with dire consequences, making them leave Marudbaka village. The family then moved 20 km away to Awapalli.
Reacting to Sunday night's incident, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said in a post on X, 'On one hand, claims of Naxal eradication are being made… and on the other hand, Naxalites are killing innocent tribals. The advertisement-oriented government has completely failed in ensuring the safety of the tribals… For how long will the lives of tribals continue to be lost? @AmitShah ji (Union Home Minister Amit Shah), @vishnudsai ji (Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai) will have to answer.'
In 2023 and 2024, nine BJP leaders were killed by Maoists in separate incidents in the Naxal-affected Bastar region, including four in Bijapur district.
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