Maoists torch bus on CRPF DIG’s route

The passengers walked up to Kerlapal village, about five kilometres away, and boarded a truck to reach here. This correspondent and the DIG left Errabor village almost simultaneously after an interview session. The DIG was visiting the village in the aftermath of a deadly pre-dawn attack by Naxalites on Monday in which 32 villagers were killed.

Subramanium was already on his way to Jagdalpur when the hold-up was happening between Dornapal and Kerlapal villages in the southernmost Konta tehsil of this district.

Passengers said, some CRPF jawans had told them that they might encounter Naxalites on the road ahead but asked them not to reveal that the CRPF was close behind. ‘‘They should have stopped us before and not let us go,’’ one of them said. Passengers also said the Naxalites asked them if there were CRPF personnel in the bus.

Cong calls for bandh on July 22

RAIPUR: The Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday called for a bandh on July 22 to protest the attack by armed Naxalites on a relief camp in Dantewada district that killed 31 people and injured 80. The Congress Legislature Party met at the residence of Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma here on Tuesday night and decided to call for the bandh to condemn the attack in Errabore.

Meanwhile, a police constable, Mohammad Sadiq (30) was shot dead by Maoists at Remidicherla village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, police said. Sadiq along with a homeguard was on a bike, when the Maoists fired at them. — PTI