Maoists kill four CPI-M workers, supporter in West Bengal

KOLKATA - Maoist rebels shot dead four Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) workers and a former party member in West Bengal’s West Midnapore and Purulia districts, police said Friday.

The bodies of four CPI-M workers were recovered from West Midnapore district Friday and the body of a party sympathiser was recovered from Purulia.

Five CPI-M workers were abducted from their homes in Chandavilla village in West Midnapore’s Jhargram Thursday night by 20-25 heavily armed left-wing insurgents.

“The bodies of four of them were found on Jhilimili road near the West Midnapore-Bankura border,” an officer manning the state police control room told IANS here.

The victims had their hands and legs tied, the officer said. Maoist posters were found nearby.

According to CPI-M sources, the fifth party worker had returned to the village unharmed.

In another incident at Arsha in Purulia district, a CPI-M sympathiser was killed by suspected Maoists. He was a former member of the party, said police.

“We have recovered one body. We suspect that he has been killed by the Maoists,” Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Zulfiqar Hassan told IANS.

Maoists are active in West Bengal’s three western districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.