In the most audacious attack in West Bengal in decades, a group of over 50 Naxal rebels killed two police officers and abducted another one in the Naxalite-hit West Midnapore district on Tuesday. The rebels also looted money from a nearby bank and left posters demanding the release of a jailed Maoist leader.
Suspected Maoists have killed the second-in-command of Sankrail Police Station of West Midnapore district in Bengal and abducted its officer in charge.
According to reports the policeman killed is second officer Dibakar Bhattacharya. The ones abducted are Officer-in-charge Atindranath Datta and Assistant Sub Inspector Swapan Roy. The attack that took place at around 2pm on Tuesday.
Owning up responsibility for the raid, Koteswar Rao alias Kishanjee, top leader of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) threatened to kill any senior police officer of the rank of Director General or Inspector General if they ventured to the area.
"Yes, we conducted the raid. We killed the police officer and abducted the OC. And if the director general or any inspector general rank police officer goes there to free the OC, we will shoot them dead also," Kishanjee warned.
Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Kuldeep Singh confirmed the raid by the rebels. According to police sources, the police were heavily outnumbered in the assault.
Maoists had initially targeted a bank next to the police station and pasted posters demanding the release of arrested tribal leader and People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) leader Chhattradhar Mahato. They had reportedly come with sophisticated firearms. There were not many policemen when the attack took place.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee convened an emergency high-level meeting at the state secretariat Writers' Building which was attended by the chief secretary and senior police officials.
A large police force has left for the remote spot, but has not been able to reach as Maoists have reportedly planted landmines along the way.
Dibakar Bhattacharya is the first police officer to be killed by the ultras after the West Bengal government launched a massive security operation to flush out Maoist rebels from Lalgarh, 200 km west of Kolkata, in June. The Sankrail police station is located to the south of Lalgarh and close to the state's border with Jharkhand and Orissa. Sankrail is a block comprising 10 gram panchayats and a population of more than a lakh (0.1 million) and is located about 200 kms to the west of Kolkata.
(With inputs from IANS)
HT / Kolkata, October 20, 2009
