Maoists: Bengal seeks CRPF help

Such has been the panic that some police contingents in the region switched off their wireless sets on hearing of the blasts, fearing that Maoists might intercept their messages and target their outposts.

State Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy today admitted there was a total “intelligence failure” on the police’s part in anticipating the attacks.

Amid reports that CPI(M) workers in the remote pockets of Bankura and Purulia districts are panicking, the West Bengal Government today urged the Centre to step up a vigil in the areas that border Jharkhand. The Maoists are believed to have fled there after the attacks.

Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya today held a high-level meeting with police officials after Director-General of Police S C Awasthi returned to Kolkata after inspecting the attack sites. Roy said 29 companies of paramilitary forces had proved ineffective in facing up to the Maoist threat. The companies conduct raids and search operations and collect intelligence daily, but still had no inkling about the attacks, he added.

CPI(M) zonal leaders Raghunath Murmu (53) and Bablu Modi (37) were shot dead at Majgheria village in Bankura on Saturday night. Within 30 minutes, their party colleague Mahendra Mahato was shot dead at Bandwan in Purulia.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the attacks. Police sources it appears some of the attackers in Barikul, Bankura spoke Hindi. The police suspect that this Maoist team might have been led by a leader from Andhra Pradesh

who has reportedly spearheaded most of the attacks in the region.