Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh): A local leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was found dead with injuries to his face in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district, police said on Tuesday. The body of Budhram Kartam, 35, was found below a culvert near Kilepal village on the national highway connecting Jagdalpur and Geedam, on Monday, said Eshwarya Chandrakar, sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Parpa area.
Kartam was the secretary of the BJP's district unit, it was stated. He had gone for a morning walk and when he did not return home, his family members launched a search for him, he said. Locals found the man dead some 2 km from his house. The body was sent for post-mortem to the medical college in Dimrapal and a forensics team collected evidence from the spot, he said.
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The exact cause of death will be known once the post-mortem report arrives. Prima facie, the injury marks on the face don't seem to be made by any sharp-edged weapon. However, the police are probing all possible angles, including accident, Chandrakar said. Senior BJP leader and former MLA Lachhu Ram Kashyap said Kartam, a former sarpanch of Kilepal, was the secretary of the party's Bastar district unit.
Kashyap further claimed that the circumstances in which Kartam was found dead suggest that he was murdered. Bastar ASP Nivedita Paul said the body was sent for postmortem. "The forensic team is also investigating on the spot. Although it is difficult to say how he died. Whether he was murdered or died in a road accident is a matter of investigation. Soon it will be known. Police is waiting for the postmortem report. Have started investigating the matter," he said.
