RAIPUR: Maoists on Friday took responsibility for the assassination of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bheema Mandavi and four others on April 9 in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
The Dandakaranya Special Zonal and the Darbha Division Committee issued a statement calling the killing a retaliatory one.
The statement, issued by the committee’s secretary P Sainath, said Mandavi was killed to avenge the deaths of senior Maoist cadres at the hands of security forces in Dantewada which was represented by Mandavi.
The outfit added that it was also in retaliation of the Central government’s ‘SAMADHAN’ strategy against the left-wing extremism (LWE) and alleged police atrocities against locals.
“Our Peoples’ Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) unit with the support of the people carried out the attack on MLA Bheema Mandavi and killed him along with his four bodyguards. We have seized four rifles and hundreds of bullets,” the statement said adding that such attacks would continue till the government persisted with its “war against the Maoists”.
The outfit also released images of the weapons they stole.
The SAMADHAN strategy was launched by the Centre in 2017. It was the fallout of the Bukapal ambush in April 2017 in Sukma.
It was conceptualised by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. In their statement, the Maoist outfit also opposed the issue of a mining contract to Adani Enterprises Ltd as contract miner at Kirandul in Dantewada.