One person was killed and 25 others were injured, including 18 security personnel, when a clash broke out between joint forces and Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities supporters at Chunapara in West Midnapore district on Thursday.
In a major breakthrough, the joint forces killed top-ranking Maoist leader Sasadhar Mahato and arrested a person at Kapgari in the Jamboni police station area in West Midnapore district.
A two-day bandh called by the Maoists in six states began on a bloody note with Naxals killing two policemen in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district and five Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters in West Bengal's West Midnapore district.
A fresh gunbattle broke out between the Maoists and the joint forces in Salboni area on Saturday, while the police remained tightlipped over reports that top leader Kishenji was injured in Thursday's encounter at Hatiloth forest in West Midnapore district.
In a prize catch, the West Bengal police on Tuesday night arrested top Maoist leader Venkateswar Reddy, the suspected mastermind of the attack that killed 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel in Silda in West Midnapore district. Additional Director General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department Raj Kanojia said Reddy, alias Telugu Dipak, was arrested from Sarshuna on the southern fringes of the city.
Monday's Naxalite attack on a joint forces camp in Silda, West Midnapore, has left the West Bengal government red-faced and the Union home ministry livid. At least 24 paramilitary jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles were killed last evening.
Five persons, including a woman, were killed and over 20 injured when villagers suspecting a house was being used by armed Communist Party of India-Marxist cadre gheraoed it and were fired upon from inside in Lalgarh area of West Midnapore district on Friday.
Nirmal Mahato, the CPM branch committee secretary of Amdanga, was shot dead by Maoists, who claimed he was killed for exploiting poor villagers, police said. The Maoists then blocked the Amdanga-Lalgarh road felling boulders preventing security forces from raiding the area.
The West Bengal police on Tuesday interrogated top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy in a New Delhi jail, after obtaining permission from a local court, in connection with a criminal case registered at West Midnapore district in 2008.Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had a narrow escape on November 2, 2008, when a landmine exploded within minutes of their convoy passing through Baroa near Salboni in Midnapore.
The West Bengal government said on Friday that the police and intelligence agencies had got information about Maoist leader Kishenji hiding in the state and that he was likely to be arrested soon.
A day after 26 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and seven were injured in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh''s Narayanpur District, the rebels have called for a shutdown in Jharkhand, Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
A jawan from the joint security forces was critically injured on Wednesday when Maoists fired at a patrol party while it was engaged in routine combing operations at Birihari forest area in West Midnapore district on the first day of the two-day Naxal- sponsored bandh. Ajay Gupta, a jawan of assistant sub-inspector rank, was rushed to Midnapore medical college hospital in a serious condition, said the police.
Launching their final offensive to reclaim the areas held by the Maoists in West Midnapore district, security forces started marching towards Kantapahari -- the last stronghold of the Maoists -- from both Lalgarh and Ramgarh on Monday.The forces, comprising 1600 men of the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, State Armed Police and India Reserve Battalion, set out at approximately 7 am from Lalgarh and Ramgarh in a pincer movement.
The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a leader of Maoists-backed the People's Committee against Police Atrocities on Saturday for alleged involvement in derailment of Gyaneswari Express that left 148 people dead in West Midnapore district, the fourth arrest in the case.
The death toll in Gyaneswari Express derailment rose to 148 after some more bodies, trapped under the engine of the goods train which had rammed into the derailed coaches, were extricated by rescuers on Sunday morning.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that there was a political conspiracy behind the Gyaneshwari Express disaster in West Midnapore and said the Centre has agreed for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the mishap. "From the railways, we have requested the Union home ministry for a CBI investigation into the incident, since it was in Jangalmahal where the joint operation (against Maoists) is on."
At least 120 passengers were feared killed and Hundred passengers were killed and 160 injured after suspected Maoists derailed 13 coaches of Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express leading to a collision with a goods train in West Midnapore district early on Friday.
Nearly 500 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action, engaged in anti-Maoist operations in West Midnapore district, were the first to reach the site where a Maharashtra-bound express train derailed on Friday morning, killing 68 passengers.A CRPF spokesman told reporters that personnel of the 165 CRPF battalion posted at Maoist-affected Manikpara, close to the accident spot, arrived at 2 am and were the first rescuers.
The accident site in West Midnapore, West Bengal, has been strewn with mutilated bodies and belongings of passengers of the ill-fated Gyaneshwari Express.
In the wake of the Maoist attack on a Mumbai-bound train in West Midnapore district, the South Eastern Railway cancelled the Howrah-Barbil Janshatabdi Express and Howrah-Jamshedpur Ispat Express on Friday.
"Two security men -- Alok Mondal and Srimanta Banerjee -- of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) were fatally injured in the landmine explosion. The duo was rushed to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital where they were declared brought dead," West Midnapore SP Manoj Kumar Verma told PTI over phone.
Four jawans have been killed after Naxals blew up a vehicle carrying Central Reserve Police Force troopers in West Midnapore, West Bengal, on Wednesday.
The government has sanctioned Rs 95.61 crore to Maoist-affected states, including West Bengal, under the 'Special Assistance Scheme' to carry out speedy development works. The amount has been sanctioned to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
Maoists on Thursday called for a 48-hour bandh in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa from April 26 in support of their demand for producing four of their arrested cadre before court. Chandrasekhar, Rajen, Krishna and Rajesh were arrested by security forces between April 14 and April 15 from different areas in Jhargram subdivision of West Midnapore district, but have not been produced in court, a Maoist leader claimed.
Ending uncertainty and suspense, the Maoists have released Atindranath Dutta, the police officer, whom they abducted last week.
Maoists shot dead two Trinamool Congress workers at Bandhghora village near Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, the police said on Saturday. The Left-wing extremists chopped the limbs of Paban Mahato, 38, and Kaushik Dutta, 35, and fired 11 bullets at them from a close range on Friday, they said. They were casual workers in the electricity department. Police said Maoist posters were recovered from the spot claiming that Dutta and Mahato were police informers.
On his first visit to the heart of Naxal territory in West Bengal, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram ruled out the involvement of the military in anti-Maoist operations and made a fresh offer of dialogue with the left-wing extremists.
Elusive tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, spearheading an agitation since November last year against alleged police atrocities at Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, was arrested on Saturday.
Maoists triggered a blast on a stretch of land along the railway track between Midnapore and Godapia Sal stations in West Midnapore district of West Bengal in the wee hours on Monday as the 48-hr bandh called by them began.
Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities leader Uma Kanta Mahto was killed in an encounter with joint security forces in West Midnapore district of West Bengal on Friday, said the police.Mahto was wanted in connection with the Gyaneshwari train disaster case that had claimed 148 lives on May 29 this year. The government had suspected that Maoists had planned the derailment of the passenger train.
The anti-Maoist joint operations by Central forces and police at restive Lalgarh in West Midnapore district were not a total success as no major arrest could be made or killings stopped, the West Bengal Government said on Thursday.
Noting that Maoists still have "pockets of influence" in Lalgarh, the government on Saturday said the situation in the strife-torn area in West Bengal was not stable but maintained that paramilitary forces cannot be deployed there indefinitely.
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday demanded the immediate withdrawal of central forces from Lalgarh in West Midnapore district and asked the Centre to take up development programmes there."We demand immediate withdrawal of the joint security forces, who are committing atrocities on innocent villagers in the name of nabbing Maoists, and urge the Centre to take up development programmes at Lalgarh as early as possible," said a senior Trinamool Congress leader.
All police stations and Central Reserve Police Force camps in the three Maoist-hit districts of West Bengal have been put on high alert and Railway Protection Force has been asked to keep vigil on trains and tracks ahead of Wednesday's 48-hour Bharat bandh called by ultras.
Top Maoist leader Kishenji claimed on Tuesday that his oufit was not involved in the May 28 Jnaneswari Express disaster in West Midnapore district that claimed 148 lives.
"Kisenji is hiding in the district and is injured. His associate Bikash and woman leader Tara are hiding along with him," Midnapore SP Manoj Verma told PTI.
Security forces on Saturday captured key Maoist stronghold of Ramgarh as they launched a two-pronged attack to reclaim areas in West Midnapore district under control of Left-wing ultras who offered stiff resistance by detonating landmines and opening gunfire.
The Communsist Party of India-Maoist spokesperson Gour Chakraborty was held by the Kolkata Police, from the office of a regional television channel in Park street, central Kolkata. Chakraborty was there for an interview. According to sources Chakraborty may be arrested if it is proved that he has direct or indirect links to the Maoists' operations across the country.
After laying siege over Lalgarh in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, Maoists have now targeted Orissa's Narayanpatna region.
Maoists in West Bengal have apparently been shifting base from their strongholds in Lalgarh and Belpahari in the last two months, with killings and violence increasingly taking place in Jhargram subdivision, 40 km away in restive West Midnapore district. Police sources attribute this to the strong security presence in Belpahari and Lalgarh.There are seven camps of the joint security forces in Lalgarh and nine in Belpahari while there are only three camps in Jhargram.
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