Deaths, blasts, abduction mark Maoist bundh

A road bridge was also blown up and a four-wheeler used by the CISF personnel of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) torched by the Maoists in extremist-hit West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.

A three-feet rail section under Dhanbad Rail Division was also blown up, holding up several trains, including a Rajdhani train. The Maoists continued their overnight violence on the second day of their two-day bundh in  protest against the killing of their senior leader Azad in Andhra Pradesh on July 1 following up their attacks in Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Umesh Chandra Marandi was abducted after Naxals attacked a police station in Daitari town in Orissa’s Keonjhar district late on Wednesday night. Marandi is still missing, police said. Thursday’s attack on the house of Avdesh Gautam, a Congress leader, in Dantewada, about 300 km from Raipur, also left two persons injured including his son.

One of the two persons who died was identified as Gautam’s brother-in-law Sanjay Singh, police said. The attack took place in Nakulnar village after Naxals struck at nearby Kuakonda police station in the wee hours. Police claimed that six Naxalites were killed in the gunbattle. However, their bodies were yet to be recovered.

Gautam is considered close to Congress leader Mahendra Karma, the politician said to be the organiser of Salwa Judum movement against Naxalites. Gautam’s closeness to Karma may have led to the Naxal attack. He has survived two attempts on his life in the past, police said.