Maoists kill school teacher in West Bengal

KOLKATA - A school teacher, who was a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), was Saturday shot dead by Maoists in West Bengal’s West Midnapore distruct, police said.

Dibakur Mahato, a CPI-M member of Aguboni local committee and a teacher of Salboni Primary school, was shot dead during school hours Saturday morning, said Superintendent of Police (Jhargram) Praveen Tripathi.

According to locals, a group of five-six armed rebels came to Salboni school on motorbikes and dragged Dibakar out of the classroom, took him to the highway number 9 and shot him dead.

“His body was found on the State Highway-9 between Jhargram and Lodhasuli. We were informed by the locals and his body was recovered,” Tripathi said.

According to a senior police officer, the Maoists are trying to capture the Aguboni area but are not able to venture into the area because of the resistance put up jointly by the CPI-M cadres and villagers.

On Sep 1, Maoists shot dead Abinash Mahato, the CPI-M zonal committee secretary of Beliabera, and branch committee secretary Nirmal Bag near Lodhashuli in Jhargram.