Bijapur: In yet another cowardly act, armed cadres of the proscribed Maoist outfit have executed two civilians in violence-hit Todma area of Bijapur district. The tragic incident unfolded on Wednesday, February 20, leaving the residents in a state of shock and fear.
As the sequence of events unfolded, cadres of the outlawed Maoist group entered Todma village under Barsoor police station limits, abducting a Shikshadoot along and a youth. The extremists then reportedly paraded both of them before a Jan Adalat, a kangroo court of the extremists.
Both the abducted villagers were interrogated for hours before they were awarded with capital punishment by the members of the banned outfit. They were later taken to the nearby forest area, where the ultras executed them by labeling charges of espionage.
The slain civilians were identified as Vaman Kashyap (25), a Shikshadoot at Todma and a 22-year-old youth Anish. The bodies of the murdered civilians were later recovered from the outskirts of the village. The responsibility of the gruesome murders was claimed by the Maad Area Committee of the outlaws.
According to the reports, the slain teacher Vaman has recently started a school in Todma an area affected by Maoist-insurgency. The locality is reported to be without a functional school for years.
The incident mark 6th such targeted killing of civilians in Bijapur and overall 8th such incident carried out by the extremists in the current year, highlighting the alarming situation in insurgency prone areas of Bastar.
It is worth mentioning here that this is not the only time the outlaws have targeted a villager involved in teaching work in Bijapur and earlier the extremists had also murdered another Shikshadoot in Mirtur of Bijapur district. The deceased was identified as Dudhi Arjun, a resident of Gondpalli.
Read more at: Maoists kill ‘Shikshadoot’ in Jagargunda, as civilian killings continue in Bastar…
Significantly, the recent targeted killings of civilians occurred amidst intensified campaigns of the security forces in Maoist-hit areas of state, resulting in neutralisation of over 85 Maoists since January this year.
Continuous campaign of the forces in the insurgency prone areas in recent months have also led to a decline in Maoist related incidents and resultant deaths.
Notably, the Union Government has recently stated that violence perpetrated by Maoists has reduced by 47% in state of Chhattisgarh in 2024 in comparison to the high levels of 2010.
Responding to a query in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on February 11 said the state recorded 267 cases of Maoist related violence in 2024 as compared against 499 reported in 2010.
He further informed that the resultant death of security forces and civilians have also reduced significantly during the same period. Rai said that the figures pertaining to civilians and security forces death in 2024 stands at 122 in compare to the all-time high of 343 in the year 2010, registering a dip of around 65 per cent.
