A Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) constable who had gone missing was found dead on Friday in Bijapur district, police said, adding he had been killed by Naxalites.
The body of Mallu Ram Suryawanshi (38), who went missing from his camp a week ago, was found on the Bijapur-Gangloor road near Padeda village, Inspector General of Police (Bastar) Sundarraj P said. A police team shifted the body to a hospital for post-mortem.
The Gangaloor area committee of the Maoists claimed responsibility for the murder in a pamphlet recovered from the spot, the officer said. Suryanwanshi, from Bilaspur district, was attached to the 17th Battalion of CAF.
He was posted in the Battalion's pioneer company which handles construction works, including setting up police camps, in interior areas, Sundarraj said.
Prima facie, it seems he was killed with sharp-edged weapons but the exact cause of the death will be known after the autopsy, he said.
A search operation has been launched to trace the assailants. With this, eight people -- three policemen, a forest official and four civilians -- have been killed in separate Naxalite-related incidents in Bijapur district in the last one month, the officer said.
