Maoists torch 2 railway stations, office during bandh

Patna/Rourkela/Ranchi: Maoists torched two railway stations, blew up a community centre and exchanged fire with police on the second day of their 48-hour bandh in three of five states -- Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar.

In Bihar's Gaya district, around 400 Maoists descended on the Ismailpur railway station in the evening and set it ablaze and took the station master hostage, Gaya SP Sushil Khopde told.

They directed the railway employees to leave the station before torching it, Khopde said, adding rail traffic was disrupted.

The Maoists later freed the station master.

The Special Task Force and CRPF launched combing operations, he said.

In the morning, the ultras blasted a community hall at Irki in Aurangabad district.

About 100 ultras raided the village and blew up the building with dynamite, ADG (HQ) Neelmani said.

A Maoist activist was also killed in an encounter with the police at Sakir Bigha in Gaya, Khopade said.

In Orissa, Maoists, including women, set off a powerful explosion at the Roxy railway station, about 80 km from Rourkela, causing extensive damage to the building, police said.

An assistant station manager, a porter and a guard were held captive by the Maoists for over three hours before being released with a warning not to run trains during a shutdown, sources said.

The ultras also torched over eight dumpers and heavy vehicles at a railway station on the Rourkela-Barsuna route used for transport of iron ore and minerals to the Rourkela Steel Plant and other units, Inspector-in-charge B C Sahoo said.

A group of 15 armed Maoists attacked Bhalulata Railway station, 25 km from Rourkela, but could not blow up the building as the explosive device did not go off.

In Jharkhand, two policemen were injured in an encounter at Taimara Ghati with Maoists who torched four trucks on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur road, SP (Rural) Anup T Mathew told.

The Maoists also blew up a mobile tower in neighbouring Latehar district's Lali village

Meanwhile, two top Maoists Amitabh Bagchi alias Anil and Taufid Mullah alias Kartik, whom their leader Kishenji has been claiming were arrested in Patna on August 19, were nabbed from the Ranchi railway station last evening.

Anil, a politburo member and Kartik, a state committee member of the banned organisation, were arrested on a tipoff from the Ranchi railway station, Deputy Inspector General of Police R K Mullick said.

They were produced in a local court today which remanded in police custody for six days.

Kishenji later withdrew the indefinite bandh call in Bihar and Jharkhand on Wednesday.

Train services between Howrah and Mumbai were disrupted following another Maoist attack near Tunia railway station in Jharkhand, GRP sources said late tonight.

Maoists blew up the outer lines of the railway track at Tunia, about 100 km from Rourkela.

Bombay-Howrah Mail and Koraput-Howrah Samaleshwari Express have been halted at Rourkela, while Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express is halted at Manoharpur station at Orissa-Jharkhand border, sources said.

The trains will resume journey only after clearance from the divisional railway headquarters at Chakradharpur.