The red spread

Naxal violence patterns in West Bengal show Maoists moving into new territories,taking up emotive issues like land acquisition....

2004

September: The CPI-Maoist comes into existence following the merger of the Peoples War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre.

2005

July 9: CPI-Maoist cadres kill two Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders and leave behind a booby trap that killed an officer and injured another 16 police personnel in Bankura district.

December 31: CPI-Maoist cadres storm the residence of Rabindranath Kar,CPM leader from Bhamragarh in Purulia district,and kill him and his wife.

2006

March 5: Maoists herd out nine CPM activists to a field in West Midnapore district and open fire on the group leader,Kartik Sinha,killing him. But they release the others.

August 1: About 70 CPI-Maoist cadres attack the India Reserve Battalion camp at Chhurimara in the Belpahari area of Midnapore district.

September 21: A land mine planted by the Maoists explodes in Lalgarh,killing two police personnel and injuring 29 others,including some senior police officers and journalists.

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December 15: Two CPI-Maoist cadres and a para-military personnel are killed in an encounter in Bogdoba village of Bankura district. The encounter occurred after a group of 70 Maoists,led by Sabita Kumari from Andhra Pradesh,attacked the house of CPM leader Nabin Hembram.

2007

June 27: CPI-Maoist cadres storm railway station at Biramdih in the Purulia district,set fire to the stationmasters office.

August 4: CPI-Maoist cadres blow up the house of a forest officer in the Midnapore district,asking his family to step out of the house prior to it. Police said this was the first instance of the Maoists targeting the forest department.

August 25: Suspected CPI-Maoist cadres attack the CPM party office at Poragachia in the Nadia district.

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December 10: Maoists attack bus carrying around 150 CPM supporters and injure two in West Midnapore.

2008

November 2: CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Pawan have a narrow escape when a powerful IED,suspected to be planted by the left-wing extremists,

goes off near a culvert on the Salboni-Medinipur road.

The Lalgarh tribal agitation begins in November.

November 21: The CPI-Maoist endorses its direct involvement in the agitations in Lalgarh,West Midnapore district.

December 26: Announcing that Gour Chakrabarty 70 would be the spokesperson for the outfit,the CPI-Maoist says it would openly hold meetings under the outfits own banner.

2009

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April 22: A group of about 70 Maoists enter Dubrajpur and Saluka villages,near the CRPF camp at Ramgarh in West Midnapore district,and assault CPI-M leader,Gopinath Murmu,who died.

April 29: The CPI-Maoist gives an election boycott call in the Lalgarh area,24 hours before the general election.

June 18: As West Bengal launched a counter-offensive against the CPI-Maoist,the insurgents kill a leader of the ruling CPI-M and three others near Goaltore in the West Midnapore district.

September 20: The CPI-Maoist issue an threat to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Leaflets mention that an improvised explosive device blast which took place on National Highway 34 on August 30 was intended for Pranab Mukherjee.

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September 26: Chhatradhar Mahato,convener of the CPI-Maoist-backed PCPA,is arrested.

October 20: Maoists attack the Sankrail thana in West Midnapore district,killing two policemen and abducting the officer-in-charge Atindranath Dutta.