C'garh: Naxals kill husband of panchayat poll candidate

Naxals killed the husband of a candidate contesting the panchayat elections in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district, where the first phase of polling was underway, police said on Tuesday.

Former assistant constable Baldev Tati was abducted near his native village of Kadenar in the Gangaloor police station area on Monday afternoon, a senior police official said.

Locals found Tati with his throat slit on Kadenar- Padmur Road on Tuesday, following which security forces rushed to the spot, he said, adding that investigations are underway.

"Tati, who was an assistant constable in the district police, was discharged from service because of his long absences from work," the official said.

The deceased's was campaigning for his wife Sundari, who is contesting for the post of sarpanch from Kadenar panchayat, he added.

Meanwhile, the first phase of three-phase panchayat elections began in 4,847 gram panchayats of 57 development blocks in the state on Tuesday morning.

Naxals in remote villages of Bastar division had recently put up posters boycotting the elections, following which additional security was arranged at polling booths and patrolling was intensified in interior forests.