‘Leave BJP or die’: Maoists kill 2 former sarpanchs in Chhattisgarh | Raipur News

RAIPUR: Two former sarpanchs of insurgency-hit Bijapur district were murdered by Maoists for continuing to work for the BJP despite threats from cadres. “Leave the BJP or die,” say the leaflets left by the Maoists on their bodies.
The bodies of Suklu Farsa and Sukhram Avalam were found in different places in the district on Thursday morning. Both were kidnapped on Wednesday. Farsa’s teenage daughter had posted a video last night, pleading for her life, but what she got back was her body with her throat slit.
Eleven BJP functionaries and three Congress workers have been murdered in Bastar division since February 2023. Maoists have warned BJP workers that they too will be killed if they do not leave the party. Around 43 BJP leaders and workers were given police protection in March this year.
Farsa was sarpanch of Aadwada-Biriyabhumi village from 2004 to 2009 and block leader of the agriculture wing of the BJP Kisan Morcha in Bhairamgarh. He was abducted on Tuesday evening from Aadwada, while he was on his way to a funeral in Bhairamgarh, a Maoist hotbed 7 km away.
This region is located approximately 50 km from the district headquarters of Bijapur and 400 km from Raipur. Farsa was with his wife when three masked men surrounded them and dragged him into the forest.
As the family was not sure whether the kidnappers were Maoists, his daughter made a video appeal for his release.

Flyer says Maoists killed Farsa for his BJP links

On Thursday, Farsa’s body was found in Biriyabhoomi area of ​​Bhairamgarh, with a Maoist leaflet pinned to his clothes.
He said the Bhairamgarh regional committee of Maoists killed him due to his association with the BJP. “He was warned two or three times by the Maoists, but he did not pay attention. The fourth time, the PLGA punished him with death. We request BJP workers to leave the party, otherwise they will definitely be sentenced to death. This is a warning,” the leaflet says.
About 20 km away, the body of another former sarpanch, Sukhram Avalam, was found on the roadside near Kader village.
He had been missing since Wednesday when two men approached him as he was returning from the village market and took him into the forest. As with Farsa, a Maoist leaflet pinned to his clothes stated that the Naxal committee of the Gangaloor region had killed Sukhram.
“Sukhram had signed papers authorizing the establishment of security camps in the area, which is why he was killed as punishment. Any sarpanch who misleads the public and works for the police will be sentenced to death by the PLGA,” he said.
The police sent both bodies for post-mortem and registered a case. In Bijapur alone, at least 25 civilians have been murdered this year by Maoists.