Bihar: Maoists blow up community hall in Gaya, demand Rs2 crore from JD(U) leader

Suspected Maoists blew up a newly constructed neighborhood corridor in Bihar’s Gaya district late on Sunday night time. Police stated an armed squad of the CPI (Maoist) stormed into Bodhi-Bigha village in Dumaria police station space of Gaya district, about 119 km south of Patna, late Sunday night time and planted dynamites that blew up the constructing.

According to the villagers, the neighborhood corridor, constructed with then JD(U) MLC Anuj Kumar’s fund at a price of Rs20 lakh, had been on Maoists’ radar for some time. On March 27, 2019, Maoists had additionally blown up Singh’s home in Dumaria after he allegedly did not return their Rs2 crore given in demonetised notes to alternate.

Police sources stated there have been pamphlets on the website demanding Rs2 crore from Singh, purportedly from Maoists. The pamphlets claimed that Singh was a police informer who harassed frequent individuals and had repeatedly been warned. “Our fight is against elements like Anuj Singh who get huge [amounts of ] money from Maoists leaders on the pretext of giving contracts,” they stated.

While Singh stated he had met chief minister Nitish Kumar and sought establishing of police pickets in Bodhi-Bigha in view of the Maoist menace, he refused to touch upon the reported Rs2 crore demand from Maoists.

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Ram Lagan Singh (64), a resident of Bodhi-Bigha village, stated the incident occurred round 11.45pm. “The blast was so powerful that everything shook. We also heard slogans like ‘Lal Salam’ being shouted outside and we guessed it was the Maoists who had triggered the blast. So, we remained indoors. When we stepped out in the morning, we saw the community hall had been demolished,” he stated.

Another villager stated dynamite had been used to explode the constructing. Fearing a lure, police have been but to go to the spot situated deep inside a Maoist zone.

Gaya SSP Rajiv Mishra informed HT, “The community hall building was inaugurated earlier, but there was no concrete plan to house a police camp. It was the villagers who suspected that a garrison could come up, which may have agitated the Maoists.” It should be famous that whereas inaugurating the corridor proper earlier than the latest meeting elections, former chief minister and HAM president Jitan Ram Manjhi had assured that it could get a brand new police picket.

Meanwhile, the police, in cooperation with the central forces, have launched a manhunt for Maoists throughout the jungles and hills of Dumaria, near Aurangabad and Palamu (Jharkhand) district borders.

Earlier in February this yr, suspected Maoists blew up a authorities college constructing in Banke Bazar police station space in Gaya and left anti-NRC pamphlets. Hand-written pamphlets have been recovered with slogans in opposition to “Brahminvadi, Hindutvavadi, fascist BJP government,” that questioned the “occupation” of college buildings by safety forces.