He saved his son but fell to bullets himself

GAYA, MARCH 20: When Kusum Devi saw extremists rush into her village Senari in blind rage on Thursday evening, her sole concern was her s...

GAYA, MARCH 20: When Kusum Devi saw extremists rush into her village Senari in blind rage on Thursday evening, her sole concern was her son’s safety. Little Rakesh was crying in sheer terror, and her husband Chandra Bhushan Sharma would have to save him from near-certain death.

While Kusum Devi did convince Sharma to step in, she didn’t bargain for harsh reality: she would have to lose the family’s breadwinner in the process. Sharma, a poor farmer, saved Rakesh before he was himself dragged to a temple and beheaded by the extremists, who slayed as many as 33 people.Weeping inconsolably, Kusum Devi considers herself fortunate to have saved her son.

While the injured, who are being treated at the Anuragh Narayan Nagadha Medical College Hospital in the city, were too shocked, eyewitnesses said the extremists had first attacked the nearby Saharsa police picket at 6 pm on Thursday, to divert the attention of the police. They then made Senari village their target. The extremists attacked the village at 7 pm andleft around 11 pm. They said at least 50 people had lost their lives in the attack, and only those who had taken shelter in a haystack could survive the exremists’ fury.

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Meanwhile, the Maoist Communist Centre has claimed responsibility for the carnage. According to sources, the People’s War Group (PWG) had sought assistance from the Maoist Communist Centre to “wreak revenge at the Ranvir Sena after the Shankarbigha carnage in Jehanbad district.”

Leaders of both the outfits held a meeting in this regard early this month. The sources said leaders of both the banned outfits were expected to participate in a seminar being organised in Jehanbad today by the All India Resistance Forum against multinationals.