Later on Tuesday evening, Maoists ambushed the convoy of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Bhima Mandavi who was at his campaign rally along with four security personnel in Dantewada region of Chattisgarh. The attack in which four convoys along with the BJP lawmaker, Bhima Mandavi were killed took place in the Shyamagiri hills that are 350 km from the state’s capital Raipur. The following mishappening took place two days before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections will be in effect in the Maoist-infested Bastar area of the state.
The CRPF has rushed the reinforcements at the site of the incident followed by the condolences of the Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, who called for a high-level meeting. The Election Commission has sought a report from the Chattisgarh government and the electoral office of the state.
The incident took place due to a blast through an Improvised Explosive Device that was buried somewhere on the road en route the convoy. The blast ripped apart the bullet-proof vehicle of which the pieces could be seen lying at some distance from the crater of the road in the photographs that were taken after the incident.
The four people traveling with the BJP lawmaker were the security personnel who were accompanying him for the election campaign in the maoists-infested area. Five of the people died instantly. The people who tried to come out of the car were killed by the Maoists hidden in the area by opened fire.
Due to the lack of police security in the area, the local police asked the BJP lawmaker to refrain from the campaigning, but the BJP leader was determined to spread his message among the people of the state. Previously ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls, Maoists have warned the locals not to vote in the elections.
Chattisgarh will vote in three phases of the elections on April 11, 18 and 23 for the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls.
A similar yet more dastardly attack took place in Dantewada on April 6, 2010, when the Naxalite-Maoists insurgents from the CPIM ambushed leading to the killing of 76 CRPF policemen and 8 Maoists.
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