Lalgarh: 2 killed in Binpur clashes
Posted by Admin on August 29, 2009
Tit-for-tat murders in Maoist belt
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Midnapore, Aug. 28: A CPM supporter who had been try- ing to mobilise public opinion against a Maoist-backed bandh was gunned down in West Midnapore’s Binpur today and the father of a man who was allegedly among the attackers was lynched in retaliation.
Mangal Soren, 24, was tilling his land when five men on motorcycles called him and shot him from close. As Mangal slumped to the ground, they hacked him.
An axe flew out of the hand of one of the attackers and hit another farmer at a distance.
After the gang left, villagers put the two on a trekker and rushed them to hospital, but Mangal died on the way.
Sital Hembram, who survived the blow on his back, told villagers he saw a familiar face among the five and the residents of Ergoda village set out for the house of Chandan Mahato, a Jharkhand Party (Naren) supporter in neighbouring Guiara village.
In Chandan’s absence, the mob dragged out his father Biren Mahato, 63, hacked him with daggers and shot him.
Biren was declared dead in the same Jhargram Subdivisional Hospital where the Mangal had been taken.
Binpur, a traditional Maoist stronghold, is about 50km from Lalgarh town.
“We think Mangal’s murder was the handiwork of Maoists. We are probing whether any political party was involved,” said district police chief Manoj Verma.
CPM district secretariat member Dahareswar Sen said Mangal, an activist of the party youth wing, was targeted because he was trying to build opinion against the indefinite bandh called by the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities. The strike in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, has been called demanding withdrawal of security forces from Lalgarh.
“A section of the JKP (Naren) is working as the Maoist action squad,” Sen added.
The Maoists and the security forces were engaged in an encounter this evening in the Kantapahari forest, about 6km from Lalgarh town. However, no casualties were reported.
