Midnapore/Ranchi/Patna: Maoists on Monday
unleashed a wave of attacks in which a Jharkhand Party member
was killed in West Bengal while they blew up railway tracks
and set ablaze trucks in Jharkhand and blasted a telecom tower
in Bihar.
The violence occured during a two-day shutdown called by
Communist Party of India-Maoist in protest against Centre`s
moves to launch a crackdown on the banned group and on the eve of assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.
In West Bengal, the body of Jharkhand Party member, Kanai
Murmu, who was kidnapped from his village at Ergada village
late last night was found today, the police said.
Another member of the party, Ananda Mahato, was abducted
by Maoists from Kulabheda village in the district, the sources
said. Both Murmu and Mahato were members of the anti-Maoist
`Maobadi Protirodh Committee`, the police said.
In Purulia district, Maoists ransacked the house of a
local CPI(M) leader at Ghatbera during a raid and shot at and
injured a member of the village resistance committee. As the
attackers failed to find Chandan Singh Laya, the CPI(M)
Ghatbera local committee secretary, they set his house ablaze.
In Jharkhand, Maoists blew up railway tracks at Jharandih
in Dhanbad which led to the Shaktipunj Express and local
trains being held up at various points, Senior Public
Relations Officer of Dhanbad Rail Division Amrendra Das said.
A light engine derailed after a one and a half metre
section of track was blown up but none was injured, Das said.
A group of 12 armed Maoists also set fire to three
trucks in Giridih district`s Isri area and blocked the
Dumri-Giridih road with felled trees, Giridih Superintendent
of Police Ravi Kant Dhan said.
In Bihar, armed Maoists blasted a tower of a private
telecom firm with dynamite at Salaiya village, official
sources said.
In Jharkhand, the Maoists also partially damaged a road
bridge connecting Dumri to the Grand Trunk Road with
explosives while gunshots were also heard in the area, Dhan
said.
Hazaribagh Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kamboj said
Maoists partially damaged a road with explosives at Sardalo,
bordering Bokaro district.
In Bihar, the Maoists also dug up a 15 metre stretch of a
road at Chanda village disrupting traffic between Deo and
Dhibra this morning, official sources said.
The Maoists left behind pamphlets claiming
responsibility, the sources said.
ADGP (headquarters) Neelmani said Strict security
arrangements have been made for the two-day shutdown in
Bihar.
Three passengers suffered minor injuries when they
jumped off a moving bus after hearing gun shots in Dhanbad`s
Topchanch area last night, police said.
"The passengers got bruises and were given first-aid,"
a doctor at Topchanch Primary Health Centre said.
Bureau Report
