Chhattisgarh BJP Leader Killed by Maoists Ahead of Elections; Probe Underway – News18

A BJP leader Ratan Dubey, who was campaigning for the upcoming elections in Chhattisgarh, was killed by Maoists on Saturday in the insurgency-hit Narayanpur district. Dubey was murdered with a sharp-edged weapon in the Kaushalnar market area.

Bastar Range IG Sundarraj P said a team has been dispatched to the location and anything regarding Naxal involvement in the murder will be clear after the probe.

Ratan Dubey was the vice president of the BJP’s Narayanpur district unit and the area’s Assembly convenor. The incident comes three days ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. Assembly elections will be held in the state in two phases, on November 7 and 17.

Condoling the incident, BJP leader Om Mathur, in an X post, said, “I am deeply saddened by the brutal murder of Chhattisgarh BJP’s Narayanpur Assembly convenor and Narayanpur district vice president Ratan Dubey ji by Naxalites during the campaign. The entire party condemns this cowardly incident.”

In a similar incident in August 2023, a 34-year-old BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, Anuj Chaudhary was shot dead outside his residence in Moradabad’s Parshwanath Housing Society, located on Delhi Road.

CCTV footage of the incident showed Chaudhary walking outside his apartment with another person when three motorcycle-borne assailants shot him multiple times. By the time people nearly could understand anything, the men had escaped.

Chaudhary was active in local politics. He was associated with the BJP Kisan Morcha and is said to be close to some top BJP leaders and ministers.