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RAIPUR: In apparent retaliation for the Kanker operation, Maoists murdered a BJP deputy sarpanch in neighboring Narayanpur district late Tuesday, two days before Bastar constituency votes in the Lok Sabha elections.
Pancham Das Manikpuri is the ninth BJP functionary/worker to be murdered by Maoists since Feb last year. Naxals accused him of working for the police.
The killing took place in Dandvan village of Farasgaon, around 15km from the district headquarters and 115km north of Dantewada.
The Maoists struck around 11 pm, when it was already known that 29 insurgents had been gunned down in Kanker's Binagunda, 75km away. The armed cadres broke down Pancham's door with axes, barged in, and hacked him to death in front of his family.

They left after stringing up a Maoist banner near the house, accusing Pancham of corruption and working as a police informer. The Maoist west Bastar division committee claimed responsibility for the murder and said Pancham didn't heed repeated warnings, "which is why he was killed in front of his family members".
"Pancham Das's murder is an act of sheer cowardice. They killed a defenseless, common man," said Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Vijay Sharma. Pancham, a long-time BJP worker, was on the hit list of Naxalites for quite some time.
Last year, just before the assembly elections, BJP's Narayanpur district unit vice-president Ratan Dubey was hacked to death at a campaign meeting. A few days before that, BJP worker Birju Taram was shot dead in Sarkheda village of Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district. In June 2023, a local BJP functionary was killed by Naxalites in the Bijapur district. Three BJP leaders were killed in Feb last year in the Bastar division.