Naxals/Maoists Watch

[Pintu]

Close shave for Rajdhani on first day of Maoist bandh - Ranchi - City - NEWS - The Times of India

Close shave for Rajdhani on first day of Maoist bandh
TNN 25 August 2009, 06:37am IST

RANCHI/DHANBAD: The Ranchi-bound Rajdhani Express had a close shave on Monday. With the break of dawn, the first day of the 48-hour bandh called by the Maoists, suspected rebels blew up the railway tracks between Hehegara and Kumandi stations in Latehar district just an hour after the train passed the site.

The blast took place around 6.30 am while Rajdhani passed through the area at 5.30 am. Rail traffic was disrupted for nearly two hours as several mineral laden goods trains remained stranded at Latehar and Daltonganj railway stations.

Confirming the blast, Latehar SP Kuldeep Dwivedi said traffic resumed after nearly half an hour and forces were deployed on the Coal India Chord (CIC) section passing through the district.

The Maoists have called the bandh in the five states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in protest against the arrest of two of its senior leaders, Anil, a politburo member and Kartik, a central committee member.

The early morning blast at Latehar was followed by two mobile tower blasts in adjoining Tukabera village on the Aurangabad road of Palamu district. Around 50 suspected Maoists blew up the towers of BSNL and Reliance. DSP Brajmohan Paswan confirmed the incident and said the blast left a big crater on the spot.

In another incident, the house of one Moinuddin Khan was looted of foodgrains, ransacked and set ablaze by around 100 Maoists at Jogibigha village in Chatra district around midnight. Khan was responsible for driving out an armed band of about 50 Maoists on July 12.

The bandh evoked mixed response in the coal belt as the movement of trains in Dhanbad division was normal, except for disturbance in the CIC section for two hours in the morning at Latehar.

Mineral transportation in the Chakradharpur division was largely affected as goods trains remained stranded. Movement of long-distance buses from Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Dhanbad and other parts of the state was also disrupted in the first half of the day.

The bandh passed off peacefully at least in the Kolhan belt of the state. However, Ghatshila subdivision in East Singhbhum district did feel the pinch with markets remaining closed for a major part of the day and long-distance buses staying off the roads.

Police were on high alert with security forces hitting the streets in the Maoist den of Goilkera and Manoharpur in West Singhbhum district and Chandil block in Seraikela-Kharswan.

In East Singhbhum, security forces, including CRPF, were deployed on on NH-33, stretching from Ghatshila to Chandil. "The district administration has deputed 17 magistrates across strategic locations of the district to oversee security in wake of the Maoist bandh," said East Singhbhum ADM, H N Ram.

"Everything is moving accordingly. There is no change either in the timing of the departure of trains or change of route," said Rajendra Prasad, station superintendent, Tatanagar railways.

The long-distance private buses plying on the two ends of NH-33 felt the pinch with a few staying off the roads. Nonetheless, government buses ran to full strength.

 

[Pintu]

http://www.ptinews.com/news/248205_Maoists-burn-two-railway-stations-during-bandh

Maoists burn two railway stations during bandh

STAFF WRITER 21:18 HRS IST

Patna/Rourkela/Ranchi, Aug 25 (PTI) Maoists torched two railway stations, blew up a community centre and exchanged fire with police on the second day of their 48-hour bandh in three of five states -- Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar.

In Bihar's Gaya district, around 400 Maoists descended on the Ismailpur railway station in the evening and set it ablaze and took the station master hostage, Gaya SP Sushil Khopde told PTI.

They directed the railway employees to leave the station before torching it, Khopde said, adding rail traffic was disrupted. The Maoists later freed the station master.

The Special Task Force and CRPF launched combing operations, he said.

In the morning, the ultras blasted a community hall at Irki in Aurangabad district. About 100 ultras raided the village and blew up the building with dynamite, ADG (HQ) Neelmani said.

 

[I-G]

Top Maoist leaders arrested in Ranchi

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Share Print E-mail Comment[ - ] Text [ + ]STAFF WRITER 19:11 HRS IST
Ranchi, Aug 25 (PTI) Two top Maoists Amitabh Bagchi alias Anil and Taufid Mullah alias Kartik, whom their leader Kishenji has been claiming were arrested in Patna on August 19, were nabbed from the Ranchi railway station only last evening.

Anil, a politburo member and Kartik, a state committee member of the banned organisation, were arrested on a tip off from the Ranchi railway station, Deputy Inspector General of Police R K Mullick said today.

They were produced in a local court which remanded them to police custody for six days.

Kishenji had threatened that the 48-hour bandh in five states -- Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal -- would be extended in Bihar and Jharkhand unless the two were immediately produced in court.

Baghchi is a resident of Shyambazar in Kolkata and Mullah of Murshidabad district in West Bengal, Mullick added.
fullstory

 

[RPK]

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Nation | Calcutta link to Maoist behind bandh

Aug. 25: The two Maoist leaders whose arrest has triggered a violent bandh in several eastern states hail from Bengal, police said today, announcing a sequence that did not tally with events on the ground.

The duo — Amitabh Bagchi, a CPI (Maoist) politburo member and secretary of the central military commission of the outfit, and Tauhid Mulla, a Bengal state committee member — are from Shyampukur in Calcutta and Murshidabad, respectively, the police said.

They were arrested last night at Ranchi railway station on their way back from Bengal, Jharkhand police said today. However, the 48-hour Maoist bandh in five states to force the police to produce the two in court, fearing encounter deaths, was announced and had begun on Monday morning itself, several hours before the purported evening arrests.

The Maoists have been claiming that two leaders — the alias of Bagchi matched — were arrested on August 19. Central security sources had told The Telegraph on Monday that Bagchi and another senior leader were arrested last week without specifying a date.

Asked about the incongruity in the bandh preceding the arrests — the reason for the Maoist protest — a senior Jharkhand police officer said: “We can’t answer all questions.”

The two were today produced in court which remanded them in six days’ police custody. The Maoists had enforced a bandh in parts of Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar and Chhattisgarh demanding that the police make public the arrests.

On the second day of the bandh today, the Maoists torched two railway stations in Orissa and Bihar, and blew up a mobile phone tower and burned five supply trucks in Jharkhand.

In Bihar’s Gaya district, around 400 Maoists took hostage the stationmaster of Ismailpur railway station after setting the facility ablaze. The Maoists later freed the stationmaster.

According to Bengal police sources, the rebels had assigned Mulla to “revitalise” the Maoists network in Nadia, Murshidabad and Burdwan.

While the Maoists wanted to re-establish their links in Murshidabad and Nadia, where it had suffered reverses in 2007 following the arrest of 12 activists, it wanted to make fresh inroads into Burdwan, especially in the troubled Mangalkot, the police said.

“Before 2007, the Maoists were making repeated strikes in CPM strongholds in Nadia and Murshidabad, killing at least five CPM leaders,” a police officer said. “But after the CID struck here and arrested a dozen Maoists, including local leaders like Chandi Sarkar and Zakir Hussain, the Maoist presence in the two districts virtually crumbled.”

However, after the recent successful incursions into Lalgarh, the Maoists decided to regroup in these two districts, the police said. Mangalkot was also added to the list as the political clashes there offered the Maoists an opening to fish in troubled waters, the police sources claimed.

Mulla was a natural choice as he is familiar with the three districts. He was asked to make a recce of the area before returning to Jharkhand to place his views on the situation. In early and mid-August, Mulla spent many days travelling through the three districts, visiting old contacts and trying to develop new ones, the police said.

Bagchi, who is also known as Anil and used to live in Shivdas Bhaduri Lane under Shyampukur police station, had returned to Bengal to confer with Maoist leader Kishanji who is said to be camping in Lalgarh or on its outskirts.

“Bagchi is the secretary of the central military commission of the Maoists,” an officer said. “So it is natural that Bagchi might want to confer with his boss.”

Bagchi met Kishanji over three days in Lalgarh before deciding to return to Jharkhand. Bengal police claimed that the arrests were possible because they had tipped off their Jharkhand counterparts.

 

[RPK]

Maoists attack makeshift CRPF camp in Jharkhand


Ranchi, Aug 26 (PTI) Maoists opened fire at a make shift CRPF camp at Bundu in Jharkhand, leaving a villager dead and a jawan injured, police said today.

Armed Maoists attacked the camp located in a school, about 50 km from here, around 11 pm last night, Deputy Inspector General of Police, R K Mullick, said.

"While a CRPF jawan was injured in the firing, a villager was killed in the cross fire. The jawan is out of danger," Mullick said.

The school was being used by the CRPF as a temporary camp to face naxal challenge in Ranchi district during their bandh, Mullick said. The Maoist fled the spot after a strong retaliatory action

 

[I-G]

Chhattisgarh govt expels 13 cops for refusing to battle Maoists

Updated on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 13:03 IST Tags:Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, Cops, Maoists, Naxals

Raipur: Sending a strong message to security personnel reluctant to battle Maoist guerrillas, the Chhattisgarh government Wednesday dismissed 13 constables after they refused to go to Rajnandgaon district where 29 of their colleagues had been killed last month.

"We can't tolerate indiscipline. The 13 cops had openly refused to go to Madanwara in Rajnandgaon district where Maoists had killed 29 policemen in coordinated attacks July 12. We also lost a brave SP (superintendent of police)," Inspector General of Police RK Vij told reporters.

The 13 policemen of constable rank had recently completed a specialised training course at the Counter-Insurgency Training and Jungle Warfare College (CTJWC) in Bastar region's Kanker town.


The college had been set up by the state government in 2005 to provide training to policemen to "fight a guerrilla like a guerrilla".

Chhattisgarh govt expels 13 cops for refusing to battle Maoists

 

[I-G]

Two Maoists sentenced to death

STAFF WRITER 21:1 HRS IST


Chatra (Jharkhand), Aug 26 (PTI) A local court today awarded death sentence to two Maoists in Chatra district in connection with the killing of two policemen and looting their firearms in 1998.

District and Session judge Srikant Rai pronounced the judgement after convicting Krishna Ganju and Ramdeo Mahato of attacking a police van and killing two policemen on November 24, 1998 at Atampur village under Simaria police station in Chatra.

The duo had also burnt the van and looted their rifles.

The two were arrested soon afterwards.

fullstory

 

[I-G]

Maoists kill CPI(M) member, damage houses of six

STAFF WRITER 19:23 HRS IST
Midnapore (WB), Aug 26 (PTI) Suspected Maoists killed a CPI(M) member and damaged houses of six local Left leaders in trouble-torn West Midnapore district today, a day after the two-day strike called by the outfit in five states, including West Bengal, ended.

Police said the attackers, suspected to be Naxalites, slit the throat of Lakshman Mahto at Belasole in Salboni area this morning and left him bleeding at the spot.

Mahto died on way to Midnapore Sadar Hospital soon.

In a simultaneous attack at Chandra, not far from Maoist hotbed Lalgarh, armed extremists damaged houses of one CPI and five CPI(M) leaders, accusing them of having exploited tribals for years.

Police said the Maoists were believed to be behind the arson in the area.


fullstory

 

[I-G]

Two naxalites surrender before police in Chhattisgarh

STAFF WRITER 17:56 HRS IST
Raipur, Aug 26 (PTI) A top naxal militant and a woman member have surrendered before the police in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

"Deputy Naxal Commander (Baarda Dalam) Mukesh (25) and a woman naxal Jasaun (16) surrendered before the police last evening," Inspector General R K Vij said today.

Both had claimed that they decided to return to the mainstream after being disillusioned with the functioning ideology of the naxalites, the officer said.

According to Mukesh, he was forcibly picked up by the ultras from his village in Kadakda area in 2005 and given arms training at naxal camps.

Jasaun was also pushed into naxalism where she was trained in carrying out blasts, Mukesh told the police.

fullstory

 

[I-G]

One killed as Maoists attack police jeep in Jharkhand
IANS 27 August 2009, 11:57am IST


RANCHI: One person was killed when Maoist guerrillas ambushed a police jeep in Jharkhand's Latehar district and fired at security personnel, police said on Thursday.

A Special Armed Police (SAP) personnel was shot dead and another injured when their jeep was attacked late on Wednesday in Latehar's Chormunda valley, 145 km from here. The exchange of firing went on for more than one-and-a-half hours.

The SAP personnel were returning to Netarhat when the attack took place, police said.

Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of Jharkhand's 24 districts. According to police estimates, nearly 1,500 people have been killed in Maoist-related violence in the last eight years.

One killed as Maoists attack police jeep in Jharkhand - India - NEWS - The Times of India

 

[I-G]

Maoists set afire two mobile phone towers in Gaya
TNN 27 August 2009, 03:07am IST


GAYA/SASARAM: More than 50 members of Red Army, the armed wing of CPI(Maoist), set fire to two mobile phone towers at Mathurapur village under Guraru police station area and Gurua in the wee hours of Wednesday. While the Mathurapur tower belonged to Reliance Communications, the Gurua tower belonged to Aircel.

Gaya SP Sushil Khopde said prima facie it appeared to be the handiwork of the same group which on Tuesday evening put Ismailpur station on fire and abducted the station manager, Mayur Kumar. The station manager was subsequently released.

The Maoists used kerosene to put the mobile phone towers on fire, said Khopde. No evidence of the use of explosives by Maoists either in Mathurapur or in Gurua has come to light, the SP added.

In recent months, the Maoists have been consistently targeting mobile phone towers in the Magadh division and about a dozen such towers have either been blown up or burnt down in Gaya district alone. The attack on mobile phone towers, besides causing panic, results in breakdown of the communication system, thereby hampering intelligence-gathering operation and flow of information from Naxal-affected areas.

Meanwhile, rail traffic in Gaya-Mughalsarai section resumed at 5 am on Wednesday after a 10-hour suspension following the Maoist attack on Ismailpur station.

According to railway area manager (RAM) S Bhattacharya, traffic re-sumed after the railway engineers restored the signalling system. Several hundred passengers of the Gaya-Mughalsarai EMU spent a sleepless night at a nondescript Jakhim station, again a Maoist stronghold in view of the suspension of the traffic on both up and down tracks.

The signalling system was damaged in the vandalism and arson exe-cuted by the Maoists on Tuesday evening. Besides damaging the signal-ling system, the Maoists burnt the ticket-vending machine. All office rec-ords of the Ismailpur railway station were also burnt, said the RAM. The Maoists also assembled the station furniture at one point and made a bon-fire of it.

Asked about the follow-up action after the Maoist attack on Ismailpur station, the Gaya SP said raids were being conducted. However, no arrest has so far been made in this connection, he said.

In Rohtas district, Maoists torched three vehicles near Tumba village on Tuesday night. This is second such incident in past seven months.

Sources said armed Maoists intercepted three vehicles and asked the pas-sengers to get down. They then set the vehicles afire, after pouring diesel over them.

Earlier in February, Maoists had set afire 11 trucks in Rohtas district.

Maoists set afire two mobile phone towers in Gaya - India - NEWS - The Times of India

 

[I-G]

Two wanted Maoists held in Bihar

Updated on Friday, August 28, 2009, 00:08 IST Tags:Maoists, Naxals, Bihar

Jehanabad (Bihar): Police on Thursday arrested two wanted Maoists belonging to the CPI (Maoist) group from Mandebigaha village in Jehanabad district, around 45 kms from Patna.


Identified as Rajballabh Bind alias Balgovind Bind and Akhilesh Bind, the Maoists were arrested in a raid, Superintendent of Police Ganesh Kumar said.

Rajballabh was accused of killing two persons in an attack on Darogachak village in 1999, whereas Akhilesh was accused of killing three persons in Masaurhi area of Patna.


Two wanted Maoists held in Bihar

 

[I-G]

Maoists kill 'unarmed' securityman in Jharkhand

STAFF WRITER 17:7 HRS IST
Latehar (Jharkhand), Aug 27 (PTI) Maoists ambushed a van carrying "unarmed" personnel of Special Security Force to Netarhat in Jharkhand, killing one and wounding another in Latehar district, police said today.

Six SAF personnel had been to commander Balvinder Singh's house to pick him back to the camp yesterday when Maoists fired randomly on them on Netarhat-Mahuatand road near Charmunda Ghati, Superintendent of police Kuldeep Diwedi said.

"While Chandu Pradhan was killed on the spot, Jasbir Singh suffered bullet injuries," he said.

Giving details of the incident, Netarhat police station in-charge Sapan Kumar Mohata said, "All of them were unarmed and had to jump off the van to hid in the bushes before a patrolling party rescued them."

The police were inquiring why nobody carried weapons in the Maoist-stronghold, he said.

The commander was returning to join duty after being on leave, he added.

fullstory

 

[RPK]

Naxals kill four persons in Jharkhand @ The Hindu

Four persons, including a girl and a woman, have been shot dead by suspected Maoists at naxal-infested Bundu, about 50 km from here, late last night.

"Two college students, a girl and a house wife were shot dead late last night. Empty cartridges found near the bodies point to Maoists work," police superintendent Anup T Mathew told PTI here today.

All the bodies were taken away by the police, who are investigating the incident, he added.

 

[I-G]

Maoists gun down Sarpanch's husband in AP

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Share Print E-mail Comment[ - ] Text [ + ]STAFF WRITER 22:52 HRS IST
Warangal, Aug 28 (PTI) A ruling party Sarpanch's husband was shot dead allegedly by Maoists in Ramakrishnapur village here today, police said.

Mohan Rao, husband of Lakshmi, Sarpanch of Ramakrishnapur village and a Congress leader, was watching TV programme at his house when some Maoists called him outside and fired at him from close range.

The incident took place around 8.30 pm, police said, adding, he died on the spot.

fullstory

 

[amitkriit]

Here comes out the true face of Naxals: They are killing helpless people, they claim to protect from "Oppressive Indian Regime", as they call it:

8-year-old killed by Jharkhand Naxals

 

[I-G]

In a first, Maoists target women
TNN 28 August 2009, 08:59pm IST


RANCHI: In a rare incident, Maoists stormed into a house and killed four persons, including a minor girl, on Thursday night while looking for a suspected police informer. The incident occurred barely 200 feet away from Bundu police station.

Earlier, Maoists would not target civilians at all, unless they had specific information that the person they were looking for was a confirmed police informer. Then, they would drag him out of his house and kill him in front of villagers to make an example out of him.

According to eyewitnesses and neighbhours, hundreds of armed Maoists came on four Commander jeeps to the house of Digambar Mahato and blew up the front portion with a landmine.

"The Maoists then fired indiscriminately and killed everyone who came in their way," said Vijay Mahato, a neighbhour and a relative of the family. "The room in which I was sleeping was adjacent to the entrance. The windowpanes were shattered in the blast and I hid under the bed till the firing was over," he added.

According to police sources, Maoists were on the lookout for one Dhananjay Singh Munda, who had been staying on rent with his wife at Digambar Mahato's house.

As soon as the entrance was blown up, Mahato along with his landlord Digambar and wife Mithila Devi fled through the window. Maoists then entered the house and killed Mahato's wife Bhudni Devi and college students Bijay Pramanik and Pradeep Kumar Mahato, staying there as tenants. Maoists also shot dead Rita Kumari (14), the daughter of the landlord and injured her seven-year-old sister Beauty Kumari.

The house was badly damaged and bodies were found lying in a pool of blood. "Cops reached the spot, which is hardly 200 feet from the police station after nearly two hours and sent the injured Beauty to RIMS early in the morning," said Vijay.

The families of Bijay and Pradeep were shell-shocked when they came to take away the bodies. "Bijay had rented a room in this house only three months back and was sober in nature," said Kartik Pramanik, his brother.

Rural SP Anup T Mathew said a massive combing operation has been launched in the area but no arrests have been made yet. He, however, ruled out that the killing was due to the police informer.

Meanwhile, this is the third incident in the area. On Tuesday, Maoists torched four vegetable-laden trucks on NH-33 followed by an attack on a makeshift CRPF camp on Wednesday when a jawan was injured and a villager killed in the crossfire.

In a first, Maoists target women - India - NEWS - The Times of India

 

[I-G]

Thirty Maoists caught in Orissa


Updated on Saturday, August 29, 2009, 21:24 IST Tags:Maoists, Orissa

Rourkela: Thirty Maoists were arrested during night-long combing operations in four places in Orissa's Sundargarh district.


The Maoists were caught during joint combing operations by police and CRPF at Silipunji, Mundatala, Chandiposh and Champajharan areas in the district, Bonai SDPO Sudarsan Sethi said, adding that arms, ammunition and posters were seized from them.

Police claimed that the rebels during preliminary interrogation have confessed to involvement in the recent killing of Ajit Bardhan, officer-in-charge of Koida police station, looting an explosive-laden van from Champajharan on July 16 and blasting three forest department buildings at Tamada and Birida areas in the district two months back.

Bureau Report

Thirty Maoists caught in Orissa

 

[I-G]

Maoists kill CPI-M worker in WB

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Share Print E-mail Comment[ - ] Text [ + ]STAFF WRITER 13:41 HRS IST
Purulia (WB), Aug 29 (PTI) A CPI-M worker has been shot dead by Maoists at Balarampur in Purulia district.

The incident happened yesterday at Keruamahalitand village in the district. More than 50 armed Maoist cadre raided the village and stood guard in front of the houses before entering Bharat Hembram's residence, Purulia SP Rajesh Yadav said.

"The Maoists then woke Hembram from sleep and shot him dead at his residence," he said, adding that the man died on the spot.

After killing the 40-year-old man, the rebels pasted posters on trees and walls of houses claiming responsibility for the killing, They Maoists alleged that Hembram was a police informer, Yadav said.

Meanwhile, Hembram's family said he had quit the party a few months back.

Earlier yesterday, Lakshikanta Kumar, a member of CPI-M's Sindurpur local committee, was killed at Chatuhasa village in the district.
fullstory

 

[I-G]

Maoist leader arrested in Bihar

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Share Print E-mail Comment[ - ] Text [ + ]STAFF WRITER 10:50 HRS IST
Patna, Aug 30 (PTI) A Maoist leader has been arrested in connection with the attack on a police party which left five personnel dead last week, police said today.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a place at Sono bazar in Bihar's Jamui district last evening and arrested Maoist leader Mustkeen Ansari, ADG (Headquarters) Neelmani said.

Ansari has revealed vital information about the attack, he claimed.

Five policemen - four Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) jawans and an Assistant Sub-Inspector of police - were killed by Maoists at Sono Bazaar on August 22.

They had looted six weapons and ammunition from the police.
fullstory