'Stay Away From Elections': Maoists Threaten BJP Workers After Chhattisgarh's Kanker Encounter

Bijapur: After the encounter of 29 Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district, the CPI Maoists in state’s Bijapur have allegedly threatened the local BJP workers and leaders to stay away from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections asserting that they will be given death sentence if the order is overlooked. The maoists reportedly threw several such terrorising letters in the jungle area issuing a direct warning to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, while holding the BJP leaders responsible for the killing of 29 Maoists during the encounter with the security forces in Kanker on Tuesday. In the stern warning letter, the maoists have threatened that anyone who overlooks the order will meet an end of Katala Tirupati, the BJP leader, who was brutally killed by the extremists following the encounter incident.

Sources claimed that several pamphlets were thrown at various places in the Cherpal area in Bijapur and nearby areas under the Barsuru police station area. In the pamphlets, the Maoists warned of BJP leader Katala Tirupati like punishment.

The Maoists’ threat came up hours after the biggest encounter in the state, killing at least 29 Maoists by the security forces in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district. The major counter-insurgency operation killing 29 Maoists took place near Binagunda village under Chhotebethiya police station limits on Tuesday. Three security personnel had also suffered injuries during the exchange of fire.

According to a senior police official of the Chhattisgarh police, as many as 22 weapons, including one AK-47 rifle, two Insas rifles, one Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), one carbine, three .303 rifles, two 315 bore rifles, two 9MM pistols, two country-made launchers, eight muzzle-loading guns and one country-made hand grenade were from the encounter site.

Besides, a huge cache of ammunition, explosives, Maoist literature and items of daily use were also found at the scene of the gun battle. It was found during the inquiry that the seized weapons were mostly looted from security personnel following encounters in the past.