Maoist Attacks on BJP Convoy And DD Crew: Mastermind Shot Dead in Dantewada Encounter

Dantewada, May 2: Security forces on Thursday gunned down one of the masterminds of Maoist attacks on a convoy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in April and Doordarshan (DD) crew in October last year. The slain Naxal Madvi Muyya, who was carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, shot dead in an encounter Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, said Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Pallav.

Two days before the first phase of polling on April 11 for the Lok Sabha elections, Maoists carried out a deadly attack on a BJP convoy. BJP's lone legislator from Chhattisgarh's Maoist-affected Bastar region, Bhima Mandavi, was killed along with five policemen in the attack that took place on April 9. Mandavi was in the convoy, travelling from Kuakonta to Syamgiri in Dantewada, when it came under Naxal attack using an IED. Last month, the state police killed two Naxals allegedly involved in the assassination of Mandavi.

Two months before Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh in October last year, a Maoist ambush killed Doordarshan cameraman Achyuta Nanda Sahu and two police officers in Dantewada. A Doordarshan crew was moving from Aranpur police station to Nilaway village in vehicles with a security patrol when they were attacked. Bhima Mandavi had vociferously spoken against Naxals after the attack on DD crew.

While Sharma, a 35-year-old Lighting Assistant of DD News, and journalist Dhiraj Kumar survived miraculously in the attack, Achyutanand Sahu, a camera person, was not as lucky as his colleagues. In the gunfight that lasted for nearly an hour, Constable Vishnu Netam and Assistant Constable Rakesh Kaushal sustained injuries.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 02, 2019 03:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).