Maoists kill four more CPM supporters

According to the police,Maoists armed with AK-47s raided the houses of the three men last night,dragged them out in the fields and shot them from point blank range in front of hundreds of villagers. Eyewitnesses claimed that Mahatom,before being shot on his head,became unconscious out of fear.

The villagers,meanwhile,said the local CPM supporters are too scared to provide information to the police. “We are not bothered about informing the police. We want to save our lives. It is sad to see that the senior CPM leaders sitting in town are doing nothing to protect us and are maintaining a safe distance from us,” a Jhargram villager said.

The Maoists also raided the house of another CPM supporter,Robi Mahato,in Salgeria of Salboni area. He too was shot dead.

“The bodies have been sent for postmortem. We are conducting combing operations,” said Manoj Verma,Superintendent of Police,West Midnapore district. Angry over the government’s inaction in providing security to the villagers,a section of CPM supporters met Verma and demanded adequate security cover.

In a separate incident,meanwhile,three schools teachers,including a woman,were assaulted by the supporters of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) at Lalgarh for allegedly misusing midday meal funds for personal benefits.

Maoists and members of the PCAPA raided Palashi Primary School in Baita. The teachers were beaten up,after the Maoists held a “people’s court” for alleged misuse of midday meal funds. Later,the teachers were made to wear garlands of shoes and paraded.

Govt redraws Lalgarh strategy
At a high-level meeting of the state administration held late on Wednesday night it has been decided that the operational strategy against the Maoists in Lalgarh will be changed as they have become familiar with the present strategy adopted by the forces.

The meeting was attended by all the senior police officers of inspector general (IG) and deputy inspector general (DIG) ranks along with officials of all the state and central intelligence agencies,including CID and IB. The officials also discussed the coordination between the state intelligence agencies and the police.

As it was an overall review meeting about the situation in the Maoist-affected districts,including West Midnapore,Bankura and Purulia,the superintendents of police of all the three districts have submitted the cumulative statistics of the death toll in Lalgarh. According to a highly-placed police officer,around 130 civilians and 10 policemen have been killed by Maoists in the Lalgrah-Jhargram belt in the last few months.

All the senior IPS officers,meanwhile,remained tightlipped about the new strategy. “We cannot divulge the new operational strategy because if it is disclosed the Maoists will also come to know about it. The situation has started improving in Lalgarh. We have arrested many Maoists and several members of the CPI-Maoists,” said Kuldeep Singh,IG,Western Range.

A senior officer present in the meeting said: “Initially the villagers remained hostile. But now we have managed to regain their confidence. They have started giving us information about the Maoists.”

Coordination between the police and the state intelligence department was also discussed as the police officers in charge of the joint forces often complained that the forces could not be pressed into action at the right time. “The CID and IB have a huge machinery operating in the area. Sometimes the forces might have faced some communication gap and did not receive the intelligence inputs properly. We are looking into the matter.”