BJP worker killed by Maoists

Raipur: Maoists have killed a Chhattisgarh BJP worker active in insurgency-hit Bijapur district of Bastar division, accusing him of being a police informer, who passed on inputs about cadres movement to senior officials.The leaflet that Maoists left at the spot of crime claimed that they had given repeated warnings to the BJP worker, to stop supporting police. Identified as Satyam Poonem, the BJP worker was a resident of Mujalkanker village under Illmidi police station limits of Bijapur district. Police said Satyam, who worked as a Mandal-level BJP functionary, was strangled to death with a rope by members of the Madded Area Committee of the outlawed Maoist organization. The attackers left behind a handwritten leaflet near the body, in which they claimed responsibility for the act and cited multiple "reasons" for the killing — including alleged police links. It said that the victim had been under Maoist watch for several months and was "warned multiple times" before being "eliminated" for continuing to cooperate with police. Police officials said around four to five Maoists in plain clothes arrived at Satyam's house around midnight and took him outside before killing him. Police confirmed that a case was registered and that a team was immediately dispatched to the area. "The matter has been taken very seriously. Security forces have been sent to the site, and an intensive search operation is underway," said Bijapur SP Jitendra Yadav.According to police records, around 40 people have been killed in Maoist-related violence so far this year, while 11 BJP leaders were murdered between Jan 2023 and Dec 2024 in separate incidents across the division, which includes Bijapur, Sukma, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kanker, Kondagaon. Local sources said Satyam had been associated with local political and social activities in the Madded–Illmidi region — one of the most sensitive Maoist belts in South Bastar.