Maoists kill another teacher in Jhargram

After a month of unprecedented lull in Maoist violence,a school teacher was hacked to death in West Midnapore early today.

According to a senior police officer,Prabodh Mahato,a resident of Ghritakham village in Jhargram,was killed when he went to take a bath in a nearby canal. We have recovered his body from a road near the Herulia village. He was brutally beaten up and there was bullet injury on his head. No poster was found near his body. After preliminary investigation,it seems he was murdered by the Jhargram squad of the CPI-Maoists,who wanted to make their presence felt before the elections, said the officer.

According to sources,Mahato was a para teacher in the Ghritakham primary school. Earlier he was a CPM member,but he quit the party in 2008 following Maoist threats.

Bhanumati Mahato,wife of Prabodh Mahato,said: Since 2008,he never had any kind of connection with the party. He did not even participate in any CPM meeting or rally as was asked by the PCAPA member. Today at 5.30 am,he went to the canal to take a bath. When he did not return for quite some time I got sacred and went to looking for him. I found him lying in a pool of blood on the road.

Praveen Tripathi,Superintendent of Police,Jhargram,said: The Maoists extort money from school teachers regularly and recently they have increased the extortion amount. Since Mahato refused to give money to the Maoists,they hacked him to dead and later shot him as well. We are investigating into the matter.

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