Kolkata, April 02: A teacher and former supporter of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was shot dead by Maoists in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district Saturday, police said.
Prabodh Mahato, a resident of Ghritakham village in Jhargram sub-division, was gunned down by a gang of Maoists when he was returning home after bathing at a nearby canal near Gerulia village, West Midnapore Additional Police superintendent (Operation) Mukesh Kumar said.
The injury marks on his body suggest that he was first beaten up and then shot twice from close range. No poster or handbill was found near his body, said Kumar.
“After investigation, it was revealed that four Maoists came riding on two motorbikes, stopped him at Gerulia village and shot him. The rebels were members of Jhargram Squad of Maoists,” he added.
According to locals, Mahato was a teacher in the Ghritakham primary school. He was also a CPI-M member, but he quit the party in 2008 following Maoist threats.
The teacher’s wife Bhanumati Mahato said: “Since 2008, he did not have any kind of connection with the party. He did not attend any meeting or rally of the CPI-M, as asked by the pro-Maoist tribal body.”
Superintendent of Jhargram police district Praveen Tripathi said: “During preliminary investigations, we came to know that he was killed as he refused to give money to the Maoists. The Maoists are extorting money regularly from local school teachers.”
—IANs