Maoists gun down 4 in Bengal
A day after killing two CPI(M) activists in Jangalmahal, the Maoists shot dead four villagers, including a woman to death in two separate incidents at Jhargram in West Midnapore.
The murders took place during the rebels’ 24-hour-bandh in protest against the US President Barack Obama’s visit to India.
The four victims — Rashbehari Mahato, 45, Sheikh Wajed Ali, 55, Kanai Roy, 55, and Sandhya Rani Mahato, 52 — were CPI(M) activists.
Rashbehari was an expert of Chhou dance and a local committee member of the CPI(M). Wajed was a Group D employee of the Jhargram block development office and Kanai was a former panchayat pradhan of the CPI(M).
According to the police, a gang of seven armed rebels kidnapped Rashbehari, Wajed and Sandhya from their respective houses at Kismat Ganak Kata village on Sunday evening.
At around 8.30 pm, they were gunned down by the masked men at a distance. The bullet-ridden bodies were found lying on the road on Monday morning. The bodies were sent for post-mortem.
Asked about the assailants, superintendent of police (West Midnapore) Manoj Kumar Verma said, “The Maoists were involved in the murder.” No one has been detained in connection with the triple murder, he added.
Official sources pointed out that the Maoists had already distributed leaflets among the villagers recently in the area warning them not to co-operate with the joint security forces in their operation. While Rashbehari and Wajed were on the rebels’ target, Sandhya had come under their watch as her son works in the Central Reserve Police Force. The rebels had even asked her to persuade her son to leave the job.
In another such incident, the rebels pumped bullets in Kanai’s body on Monday killing him near his house at Patasimul in Jhargram at around 10 am. Roy was returning from his workplace at Kharagpur then. His wife Basanti Roy also received bullet-injuries during the attack and was admitted to a local hospital.
Meanwhile, the joint forces led by SP (Bankura) Pranab Kumar uncovered a Maoist camp at Lithla forest in Ranibandh during an encounter with the rebels. A huge cache of arms and landmines was seized.
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