Maoists kill five CPI-M supporters in West Bengal

KOLKATA - Maoists shot dead five Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supporters in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district Monday, the first day of a 48-hour shutdown the rebels called to demand a probe into the killing of their leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad.

“A 15-20 strong Maoist squad raided Chotopatina village under Nayagram police station and killed five people belonging to two families after dragging them out from their homes,” West Midnapore Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma told IANS over phone.

The heavily-armed ultras hurled bombs and fired in the air to scare people in the Dompara area of the village.

They entered the house of CPI-M supporter Amrit Aagyuan and abducted him at gunpoint after beating up some family members, including women, a police officer said.

The Left-wing extremists then attacked another house and dragged out four family members - Rohin Aagyun, Samaresh Aagyuan, Swapan Aagyuan and Prasanta Aagyuan.

All the five were taken some distance away, beaten up and shot. Four of the victims died on the spot while Swapan Aagyuan died in a local hospital.

The slogan-shouting ultras left after leaving some posters beside the bodies.

A large team of joint security forces comprising central paramilitary troopers and crack units of the state police, who are carrying out an operation to flush out Maoists from the Maoist affected forested areas of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts, locally called junglemahal, have rushed to the spot and sent the bodies to Nayagram police station.

Normal life was disrupted in these areas in response to the shutdown called by the Maoists.

In West Midnapore, shops and markets were closed in large parts of Jhargram sub-division.

“The shutdown affected normal life in several areas under Jhargram, Binpur, Lalgarh, Nayagram and Belpahari police stations. Vehicles mostly did not ply while markets remained closed. Schools and colleges were open but there were very few students,” said a police officer.

In Bankura, three Maoist-affected areas — Ranibandh, Barikul and Sarenga — observed total shutdown, said District Superintendent of Police Pranav Kumar.

“In two other police station areas of Simlapal and Raipur, the effect was partial,” Kumar told IANS over phone.

The shutdown had some impact in three-four police station areas close to forested stretches in Purulia district, said Superintendent of POlice Rajesh Yadav.

The Maoists have called for a shutdown in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh, and Andhra Pradesh apart from eastern Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Chadrapur districts and in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district.

The radicals have also demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai and Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police Girish Kumar, holding them responsible for Azad’s death.

Azad, the number three in the Communist Party of India-Maoist hierarchy, was gunned down by the police. While the central and Andhra Pradesh governments have maintained that Azad was killed in a gunfight in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh July 2, Maoists and their supporters allege the shootout was staged.