TMC worker killed,Maoists claim responsibility

The victim has been identified as 40-year-old farmer Girish Sahis. Around ten Maoists posters claiming the responsibility for the murder were recovered from the spot where Sahis was found murdered. Police sources said some of the posters read: “Trinamool beware,Maoists are still here.” Another poster claimed that Maoists will take revenge of Kishneji’s death while another claimed that Sahis was punished for working as a ‘police informer’.

Since the death of top Naxal leader Kishenji in an encounter in November,2011,there has been no killing of a Trinamool supporter by the Maoists.

Sahis was a known Trinamool worker in Jamberia village,which is now dominated by the party. The victim’s family members told the police that at around 1 am,Sahis was called by a person out of his house and he was allegedly taken for some work in the field. Sahis was shot dead by three persons,who came on a motorbike,while he was working in the field.

Even though police claimed that Sahis was not so deeply involved with the Trinamool,the block level leaders confirmed that he was a party worker. However,a Trinamool accused the CPM of carrying out the killing.

Significantly,the Maoists were on a backfoot after Kishenji,the military chief of the CPI-Maoists and the leader in-charge of the outfit in Bengal,was killed in an encounter in Jamboni in West Midnapore last year. In the months that followed,several senior Maoists leaders were arrested and at least half a dozen of them surrendered before the police. Meanwhile,the Trinamool made significant inroads into almost every Maoist den in the area with Maoists squads shifting to Jhakhand and Orissa.

A senior Trinamool leader,pleading anonymity said,“Maoists have again resorted to violence because they want to create the fear psychosis ahead of the panchayat elections. Now,they have joined hands with the CPM and the armed cadres of CPM have joined the Maoists squad. We are demanding that the arms in the be unearthed. However little has been done in this regard.”