Bijapur: A CRPF jawan was killed when a shell of an Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) accidentally exploded during voting in the Bastar Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
The incident occurred near Galgam village under the Usoor police station area when a team of security personnel was out in a vigil around 500 metres from a polling booth.
Soon after the incident, he was taken from Bijapur to Raipur and from Raipur to Delhi by air ambulance, but he succumbed on the way. The soldier was identified as Devendra Kumar.
Earlier, Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai himself took the initiative and talked to top officials regarding his health condition. The CM also posted the same on his social media handle. The post read, "Amidst the ongoing voting in Bastar Lok Sabha, sad news has been received about a soldier deployed for the security of the polling booth getting injured due to UBGL blast in Bijapur. Instructions have been given for proper treatment of the injured soldier and his condition is out of danger. I wish for the speedy recovery of the soldier."
Another incident took place in Bhairamgarh, where an assistant commandant of the CRPF was injured in an IED blast and was admitted to Raipur Hospital after receiving first aid.
Notably, Bijapur district falls in the Naxal-hit Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, where voting was underway in the first phase of general elections during the incident. The voting process was held in Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Jagdalpur, Bijapur, Chitrakot, Dantewada, and Bastar.
