Maoists blow up community hall, police building in Bihar
FEAR FACTOR Ultras were wary of CRPF resuming antiMaoist ops
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 anti-Maoist 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.
:Wild pachyderms on Sunday night raided ‘Rishabh Villa’, house of former Union minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha at Hutapa Village in Hazaribagh and went on a rampage breaking the gate and razing down the boundary wall.
Four full grown jumbos had deserted from their herd of 14 members and deviated from their natural route before straying into Hazaribag Sadar block creating panic among local residents over the past two days.
Locals said the herd came on to the national highway in Daru block on Saturday and affected the traffic for several hours. In the night they disappeared into jungle only to return Sunday morning. The jumbos damaged homes and boundary walls, devoured foodgrain and other edibles kept in the homes before scaring away the house owners.
The same group was found in Charhi late that night while four strayed into Hudapa village where they damaged houses before raiding Sinha’s home. They spent almost an hour before retreating into the jungle. not directed at the victim. I am saying, be it a boy or a girl, parents should be watching what they are doing. I am not saying that girls should be confined to their homes,” he said.
He described the stalking incident as “unfortunate and shameful”. “It is a shameful incident. Whatever happened is unfortunate,” Bhatti said.
Bhatti also attacked the Congress leaders, saying why did they remain “silent” in the rape and murder case involving a minor at Kotkhai in Himachal Pradesh.
“See their insensitivity... I am saying that such incidents, wherever these may take place in the country, are highly condemnable,” Bhatti said.
Barala’s son Vikas (23) and his friend Ashish Kumar (27) were earlier arrested for allegedly stalking the woman, but released later on bail as they had been booked under bailable sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicles Act.
The victim, who has been interacting with the media after the incident, said on Monday that had she not been the daughter of an IAS officer, things could have ended differently.
“If I had been a village girl, probably I would not have the resources to fight these guys,” she said.
However, she also said, “If we (being daughter of IAS officer) don’t do it (pursue the case), then who will. Like with my father and his post, if we are not going to do this (pursue the case), then how can we expect others to raise their voices,” she said.
“Had it been a daughter of a labourer being stalked by some petty criminals, will the offence become any less?” her father asked the media. “They are as much citizens of this country as I am or as that boy is.” while sitting in his shop. We took him to a private hospital, where a doctor advised us to take him to a cardiologist.
“We were taking him to a heart specialist when the ambulance carrying him met with a minor accident with the car of pradhan (Nagpal) near Lal Batti Chowk. A spat ensued between the driver and Nagpal for compensation for more than 20 minutes. When we reached the hospital, the doctors declared Naveen dead.”
Denying the allegations, Nagpal said, “The ambulance driver hit my car from behind and then stopped his vehicle to check (for damage). But as there was a patient inside, we asked him to go. All the allegations levelled on me are baseless and I am ready to join police investigation.”