Naxalites blow up police picket, kill jawan

Darpan Singh
Buxar/Patna, January 23
IN A major offensive late on Monday night, activists of the banned CPI (Maoists) blew up a police picket, killed a homeguard jawan and injured two others, besides looting ten .303 calibre rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition at village Itadhi under the same police station of Buxar district. The slain jawan was identified as Suman Ram, a resident of Chandudihra village of Itadhi, who succumbed to his injuries at the Buxar Sadar Hospital. Havildar Ramashankar Singh and jawan Ramanand Singh also sustained injuries in the attack. Ramashankar was later rushed to the PMCH where his condition is reported to be critical. Ramanand is undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital in Buxar. Sources said, at around 10:30 pm, around 50 Naxalites, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and other sophisticated weapons, raided the site where a bridge is being built across Thora river by the State Bridge Construction Corporation. A police picket had earlier been set up by the administration there to provide security to the construction site. The raiding Maoists attacked the police picket. The exchange of fire that followed lasted for about two hours and both sides fired hundreds of rounds during this period. However, the Maoists soon overwhelmed the policemen and looted their rifles and ammunition. Buxar SP Paresh Saxena said that, on receiving information, a police team was rushed from Itadhi police station. The team engaged the retreating Naxalites in a gun battle in which nobody was reported injured or killed. During their operation, the Maoists held hostage around 30 labourers who had been hired for work on the bridge’s construction. All the labourers were later freed. The Naxalites had also laid landmines on both sides of the bridge to blow up police reinforcements but no damage was done as the police later defused them. While retreating, the ultras left behind a few pamphlets on the spot owning responsibility for the incident and declaring that those who took part in the development work being carried out by the district administration would be defying their diktat and would, therefore, meet the same fate as the policemen. The pamphlets further declared that the Maoists would carry out more such operations to loot arms and ammunition from the district police. Some crude bombs were also recovered from the spot.The police picket was set up in February last year to provide security to the construction agency after the Maoists demanded ‘levy’ from it and issued a ‘diktat’ ordering that work on the bridge be stopped. The Buxar SP, who reached the spot in a bulletproof vehicle late in the night, said the Naxalites had used petrol bombs and IEDs during the operation. All the entry and exit points of the district had been sealed and a massive combing operation had been launched to apprehend the Maoists, he said, adding that additional police forces, led by senior officers, had been deployed in Itadhi village. Meanwhile, refuting the Buxar SP’s version of events, homeguard jawans of the district alleged the Itadhi police had not come to their rescue; instead, they had preferred to remain mute spectators to the heavy firing and bombing by the Maoists. Buxar Homeguard Jawans’ Association president Shri Bhagwan Singh said had the reinforcement reached in time, the incident could have been averted. Buxar SP has assured that he would recommend that the next of kin of the slain jawan be paid Rs 10 lakh as ex gratia. Strangely, when Hindustan Times contacted the Buxar District Magistrate on his cell phone at 10:30 am on Tuesday, he feigned ignorance of the incident, saying he was in the State Capital.