Naxals try to scuttle election process, kill BJP MLA, 4 policemen

By Sandeep Pradhan

Dantewada: BJP MLA from Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, Bheema Mandavi was killed in a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by naxals on Tuesday. According to the police, the BJP leader was returning from a public meeting at Bacheli and was heading towards Nakulnar when the rebels ambushed his convoy.

DIG (operations) P Sunder Raj told the media that a driver and three personal security officers were killed apart from the BJP MLA. 

With the general elections just round the corner, this was clearly an attempt by the naxal rebels to disrupt the election process. Before the Assembly elections last year, the rebels had killed DD News cameraperson Achyutanand Sahu in a similar ambush attack. They had for long been calling for a boycott of democratic processes. Read more