Maoists shoot at CPI-M leader, blow up party office

KOLKATA - Suspected Maoists shot at a local CPI-M leader and blew up a party office by triggering a landmine blast in two separate incidents in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district Sunday.

An abandoned office of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) at Lodhasuli under Jhargram sub-division was blown up when the ultras detonated a landmine in early Sunday, District Superintendent of POlice (Jhargram) Praveen Tripathi told IANS over the phone.

“No one was injured. The Maoists seem to be the culprits,” he said.

In a separate incident, a CPI-M leader, Tarun Banerjee, was shot at from close range by a Maoist at Lalgarh Bazar in the morning.

“One person has been shot at and injured in the Lalgarh Bazar area,” said West Midnapore Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma.

CPI-M party sources here said Banerjee is a local Marxist leader in trouble-torn Lalgarh, about 200 km west of Kolkata.

Banerjee was shot in the chest by a teenager. He has been admitted to hospital in a critical condition, a police officer said.

Lalgarh has been the epicentre of Maoist activity in the state. In West Bengal, the ultra Left rebels are also active in Purulia and Bankura districts.