Maoist Ultras Kill One Policeman In Purulia

B Prasant

MAOIST ultras belonging to the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) led an assault on the police at Bandwan in the district of Purulia in the evening of October 11 and in the encounter that followed, one police personnel, the officer-in-charge of the Bandwan police station, died while ten more policemen were left critically injured.

CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas has condemned the incident and called upon the people to be on the alert against such assaults from extremist groups.

The MCC ultras exploded landmines and then shot at the police with automatic and semi-automatic weapons as the latter approached an MCC stronghold in the Kantagara area.  Nilmadhab Das, OC, Bandwan, died on the spot. The injured constables were removed to hospital.

It was found that the MCC men had been camping at the place for some weeks, having been provided with local and logistical support by the Jharkhandis who control the nearby Kumra gram panchayat. The police are engaged in conducting an intense search of the area having tried to seal off routes of escape for the ultras. 

Local enquiries by PD/INN revealed that the rolling and afforested land adjacent to Belpahari-Kankarajhor locality has been targeted by the MCC and the People’s War Group (PWG) to conduct operations against the CPI(M), which has built up a vast support base in the urban and rural areas in the district of Purulia.

FIFTEEN NAXALITES APPREHENDED

The Bengal Police has arrested 15 Naxalites suspected of being involved in one way or an other in the attack organised at Kantagara area of Bandwan in Purulia. The police suspect that the mines exploded by the MCC-PWG ultras were of the ‘claymore’ type that were recently used in Andhra Pradesh in connection with an attack on the Andhra chief minister.

Speaking to the media in Kolkata, Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya described the Bandwan incident as ‘serious’ and added that the police “have been asked to initiate extra precaution to pre-empt such kinds of incidents.”  Bhattacharya believed that there was need at this point of time to call for additional central security forces. 

CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas said efforts were continuing to warn the people against extremist assaults while communicating to the masses to make them conscious of the real character of the extremist elements. (INN)