Banned rebel outfit CPI (Maoist) on intervening night of Thursday/Friday blew up an under-construction police station in Kurumgarh in Chainpur block of Gumla—40km from the district headquarters protesting against the arrest of top Maoist leader Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da, his wife Sheela Marandi and others.
The rebel outfit protesting the arrest of Kishan Da and other ultras had called a bandh call from November 23 to 25 in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
The Jharkhand police on November 16 arrested CPI (Maoist) politburo member Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da along with his wife Sheela Marandi under Kandra police station of Saraikela-Kharsawan district in Jharkhand. Prashant Bose, aged around 75 years, is a member of the banned CPI Maoist Central Committee, Politburo, Central Military Commission (CMC) and secretary of the Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB) of the outfit.
Jharkhand Police had announced a cash prize of Rs one crore on his head for his catch. He was arrested on the basis of intelligence inputs of the Intelligence Bureau.
As the rebel outfit had called a bandh in Jharkhand and three other states, the security agencies were on high alert with no serious incidents reported in two days, but the Maoists action on Thursday night indicates Maoists presence in State. The outlawed group even pasted posters taking up responsibility for the incident.
Jharkhand police were on high alert during Maoist bandh call, but the rebel outfit triggered the explosion damaging an upcoming Kurumgarh police station building located in the heavily rebel infested region only after the bandh period ended i.e Thursday midnight. Owing to security reasons, the district police dispatched teams to the blast site only on Friday morning, said police sources.
Gumla SP Ehtesham Waquarib said, “The blast occurred at around 1 am. There are no casualties, but the new police station building has been blown up. We are evaluating the situation and further probe is on.”
The incident occurred when several labourers were camped at the upcoming building. Sources said that the Maoist numbering 50 reached the site on Thursday night. The rebel group asked the labourers to vacate the police station building immediately. As soon as the workers left from the site, they blew up the police station building by planting a can bomb.
Police sources said that the Gumla incident reveals the frustration of the rebel group after Prashant Bose was arrested by police. Sources said that Bose was one of the think tanks of the CPI (Maoist) and involved in all major decision-making of the banned rebel outfit. His wife was also a wanted Maoist rebel and the only woman member of the CPI (Maoist) central committee. Earlier, on November 20’s day-long bandh, rebels engineered blasts on railway tracks in Latehar and West Singhbhum district affecting train services for several hours but no casualty was reported.
