Maoists blow up community hall in Bihar
GAYA: Suspected Maoists triggered blasts in a community hall and an under-construction police building at a village in Bihar’s Gaya district, destroying the two structures. Both the buildings were under renovation for a new police picket.
Police said an armed squad of the CPI(Maoist) stormed into Dhangai village under Barachatti police station limits, about 100 km south of Patna, late Sunday and planted dynamites that blew up the buildings. The ultras were wary of the plan to set up a picket there for CRPF and SSB jawans to resume antiMaoist operations, the police added.
Police could reach the blast site around Monday afternoon as Dhangai is a remote village, situated 19km from block headquarters Barachatti and 60 km south of Gaya. The flooded Gulsakri rivulet also posed difficulties.
Sherghati sub-divisional police officer Upendra Prasad, however, said the buildings were not blasted but damaged manually. “Although signs of gunpowder were noticed at the site, there was no sign of any blast,” he said.
“The community hall building was renovated earlier, but there was no concrete plan to house a police camp. The villagers suspected a garrison could come up and that may have agitated the Maoists,” Prasad said.
Meanwhile, the police, with help from the central forces, has launched a massive manhunt for the Maoists across the jungles and hills of Barachatti, close to Jharkhand borders.