Kolkata, August 04: Suspected Maoists killed two local CPM leaders in Belpahari in West Midnapore district in two separate incidents during the last 24 hours.
About 15-20 armed men attacked the house of Gurucharan Mahato (49) at Jamjurki village in the Belpahari police station area on Monday. Mahato was a former member of the local panchayat.
The assailants allegedly dragged him out and beat him up before shooting him dead. The police said the Maoists fired four rounds at him. Last year, Pelaram Tudu, a CPM Binpur zonal committee member, was killed in the same village.
In a separate incident, Nagen Singh Sardar, another local CPM leader, was killed at Nischintapur village in Belpahari. An armed Maoist squad cornered him while he was returning home and shot him dead after interrogating him for more than an hour. The suspected Maoists dumped his body at Nischintapur early Monday morning.
Sardar was part of a local committee formed a few months ago to resist the Maoists at Nischintapur and its adjoining areas.
Even as Belpahari police started a search operation in the forest areas, Maoists attacked another village in the Belpahari police station area.
In a related development, Anil Mahato, brother of Chhatradhar Mahato, leader of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities, was produced at ACJM court in Jhargram and remanded to police custody for 14 days. The police had arrested Anil on various charges, including anti-national activities.
Meanwhile, the police are yet to trace the two policemen allegedly abducted by the Maoists on Thursday evening. Kanchan Garai and Sabir Mollah were abducted at Madhusudanpur in Lalgarh.
HC rejects bail plea of Trinamool man
The Calcutta High Court has rejected the bail plea of Bamadas Mondal, a Trinamool leader of Raina, Burdwan. He was arrested in connection with the killing of CPM leader Saharov Dewan in March. The CPM had held a rally on March 18 at Raina, which was allegedly attacked by Trinamool activists.
Public prosecutor Asimesh Goswami pleaded that nearly 30 Trinamool activists, led by Bamadas, attacked the rally. They chased Dewan and beat him up by iron rods. He was admitted to a hospital with serious head injuries and he succumbed to his injuries later.
Goswami said in his dying declaration, Dewan had named Bamadas. Police arrested Bamadas on June 12 from Raina. Twenty-five people were named in the chargesheet filed by the police on June 16. Nineteen of the accused have been absconding. The remaining six accused, including Bamadas, are in jail.
–Agencies