Suspected Maoists blew up a railway track on the Dhanbad-Gaya route on Grand Chord section in the wee hours of Monday, disrupting movement of several trains, including the Rajdhani Express. The blast site between Choudharibandh and Chengro stations in Giridih district of Jharkhand is 60 km away from Dhanbad rail division, said Dy SP Niraj Kumar of Dumari.

The Maoists had called Jharkhand bandh on Tuesday and Wednesday and the incident is considered to be part of their strategy aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear among the general public.

According to Giridih SP Surendra Kumar Jha at Giridi,  the track was blown up between Chengro block halt and Chaudharybandh stations under Dhanbad railway division of East Central Railway at around 10.40 pm, shortly after the bandh began, added the SP.

The blast blew up the track on the UP line and damaged the overhead cable just before Hatia-Patna Express was to pass. The train was detained at Gomoh following the explosion, while many other long-distance trains, including, Howrah-Jodpur, Kalka Mail, Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani, Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani, Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani, Mumbai Mail and Howrah-Dehradun Express, were stranded at various stations following the incident. The train services resumed at 4.30 am after tracks were repaired.

Superintendent of rail police (Dhanbad) said, “The tracks have been repaired and traffic resumed. We have already sounded alert and instructed the rail police to keep close vigil on movement of trains. Our men are conducting search operations in all important trains. All passengers and crew members have been asked to inform police immediately on noticing any objectionable material in trains.” The Maoists have called the bandh to protest the hang to death of their two rebels of Dumka in Jharkhand.