A local Congress functionary on his way home was stabbed to death when he resisted a robbery attempt in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district in the early hours of Tuesday, police said.

The deceased, identified as Prakash Singh Kashyap (45), was the treasurer of the Congress unit in Durg. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police said they received information about the incident near Chikhli village on the Durg-Dhamdha road at 2 am on Tuesday.

The deceased, identified as Prakash Singh Kashyap (45), was the treasurer of the Congress unit in Durg.

Police said Kashyap and jos two friends had come for an outing to a mall in Durg. They were returning home on a motorcycle with the two associates when four unidentified men intercepted them. The assailants allegedly attacked the three with sticks and tried to rob them.

When Kashyap resisted, one of the attackers pulled out a knife and stabbed him before fleeing the spot with his phone and ₹4,000 cash.

He was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

Police have registered a case of murder and robbery against unidentified persons at the Javra Sirsa police chowki.

3 arrested in Balrampur with elephant tusks

Three men have been arrested from a lodge near Kanhar river in Ramanujganj on charges of trafficking in elephant tusks. Forest officials said a raid was carried out at the lodge and three elephant tusks were seized from the suspects.

The arrested men were identified as Santosh Kumar Vishwakarma (42), a resident of Jharkhand’s Palamu district bordering Balrampur, and Ajay Kumar Gupta (49) and Satendra Kumar Rajak (50), both residents of Ramanujganj in Balrampur district.

According to forest officials, Vishwakarma allegedly brought the tusks from Jharkhand to sell them in Balrampur.

A case has been registered against the accused under relevant provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. The operation was carried out jointly by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau’s Central Region unit in Bhopal, the Chhattisgarh State Flying Squad and the Balrampur Forest Division.

The seizure comes amid a series of wildlife trafficking cases in the state. On July 28, three persons were arrested in Surajpur district after officials recovered a tiger skin and around 4-5 kg of pangolin scales from them. During the recent monsoon session of the Chhattisgarh Assembly, the state government informed the House that five cases of tiger poaching or trafficking had been reported since 2024, leading to the seizure of six tiger skins and the arrest of 41 persons.