A ruling BJP MLA of Bastar region Bhima Ram Mandavi had a miraculous escape when his security guards managed to escort him to safety after Naxals attacked his convoy at Gamabada, a plain area, under Bacheli police station in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Dantewada district on Wednesday, police said.
In an audacious move, Naxals chose to target the Dantewada MLA at Gamabada — the first Naxal attack in a plain area in the three-decade-old history of Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh — when he was returning from Bacheli to his home in district headquarters town of Dantewada after attending a party meeting.
A senior district police officer told this newspaper that Naxals opened indiscriminate fire on the legislator’s convoy of five vehicles from both sides of the road at the place of attack, which came at around 5 pm.