Chhattisgarh: Naxals Involved In BJP Leader Ratan Dubey's Murder Arrested

Dubey was murdered by unidentified Naxalites in the Narayanpur district on November 4, just three days before the first phase of now-concluded state assembly polls.

New Delhi: The Chhattisgarh Police on Sunday arrested the Naxals allegedly involved in the murder of BJP leader Ratan Dubey. Dubey was murdered allegedly by unidentified Naxalites in the Narayanpur district on November 4, just three days before the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls.

News agency ANI shared a video of the arrested Naxalites:

Dubey, the BJP's Narayanpur district unit vice president and the area's Assembly convenor, was slashed to death at the Kaushalnagar village market while campaigning for Assembly elections, PTI reported.

According to an eyewitness, as Dubey was addressing a throng, two individuals emerged from the crowd and hit him on the head from behind. “Dubey ran towards his car and tried to get inside but a few more persons surrounded him and attacked him with sharp edged weapons leading to his death on the spot. The incident led to chaos. BJP workers later rushed to the police station located around 5 kilometres away from the site,” he was quoted by PTI in its report.

According to Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Pushkar Sharma, enough protection was provided throughout the election campaign, but no information regarding Dubey's visit was supplied to the police.

Following Dubey's murder, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hit out at the then-ruling Congress government of Chhattisgarh, saying, "The Congress government has failed to control Naxal violence. In recent times, many BJP workers have been taken away from us. A few days ago, one of our workers was shot dead."

Earlier in October, unidentified individuals shot and killed a BJP worker in a rural area of the insurgency-hit Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district near Rajnandgaon.

Birju Taram, 53, was strolling outside his home when two or three persons on a bike approached him and started fire, killing him on the spot, according to police.

A local BJP leader was assassinated by suspected Naxalites in Bijapur district in June this year, while three local BJP activists were murdered in similar circumstances in Bastar division in February this year—one in Bijapur and two in nearby Narayanpur district.