In a chilling act of violence, Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district murdered two women in separate incidents over two days, accusing them of being police informers. The killings occurred on Friday and Saturday, adding to the region’s rising death toll from Maoist-linked violence.
On Saturday night, 40-year-old Yalam Sukra from Lodedh village was abducted by Maoists under the jurisdiction of Madded police station. She was taken to a jungle, about three kilometres from her village, where her throat was slit. Her body was discovered Sunday morning, with a note left nearby, written in red ink. The Maoists claimed responsibility, accusing her of providing intelligence that led to a December 1 anti-Naxal operation by Telangana’s Greyhound forces, in which seven Maoists were killed. The note stated that Sukra was sentenced to death by a people’s court for being a “police mukhbir (informer).”
The previous night, another woman, 45-year-old anganwadi worker Laxmi Padam from Timapur village, was dragged from her home and strangled in front of her family. Despite her children and husband attempting to intervene, they were overpowered by the Maoists. Padam, too, was accused of being a police informer.
These murders mark five deaths in Bijapur linked to Maoist violence within a week. In Bastar, which includes Bijapur, Maoist-related violence has claimed 64 civilian lives this year, alongside 210 Maoist casualties and 18 security personnel deaths.