Maoists kill cop, take revenge

In what is seen as a revenge killing, armed guerrillas of banned outfit CPI(Maoists) gunned down a junior cop Girija Paswan in Aurangabad district.

The Maoists claimed that the 35-year-old Paswan was shot dead precisely because he had turned into a police informer and was suspected to have told his superiors about the whereabouts of Rajiv alias Bihari, a Maoist leader.

Rajiv and his accomplices were killed by the Aurangabad police earlier this month. To protest the killing of four of their colleagues in Band-Goriya village in Aurangabad, the CPI(Maoists) had given a 24-hour bandh call from the midnight of January 25.

The banned outfit had made an appeal to the fellow Maoists in neighbouring Jharkhand also to observe bandh. The bandh will remain in force till midnight of January 26.

“Those killed by the police are martyrs. Their death will not go in vain,” the spokesperson of the Maoists said, adding that the Nitish regime, after coming to power in November 2015, has extended its support to ‘Operation Green-hunt’ following which the police have launched a crackdown on the Maoists.

In view of the bandh call, the Bihar Police in general and the Aurangabad police in particular have beefed up security measures. Aurangabad SP Babu Ram has asked cops to be extra vigilant during the bandh period and foil the design of ultras.

In the past, the Maoists have targeted buses and trucks plying on National Highway or disrupted train movement on Howrah-Mughalsarai section, during their bandh call.