In Purulia, Maoists attack, open fire on BSF personnel, one injured

As a TATA 407 with 12 BSF personnel and a TATA Sumo carrying four others, including an SI, started for Gangamanna village from Sirka, an explosion ripped through the 407 throwing Singh nearly 20 ft into the adjoining fields.

“For a few moments, I was dazed. The next thing I remember was that I found my colleague Suresh Kumar lying near me with an injured leg. As I was checking myself for injuries, the Maoists opened fire from the surrounding hills. I dragged Suresh to the safety of a roadside ditch and we made it to the polling booth. The booth was guarded by three armed police personnel, but they locked themselves inside the booth and asked us to go to the terrace,” recounts Singh.

Using the internal communication resources, Singh contacted his Company Commander Natha Bina.

The commander rushed to the spot with only eight officers and evacuated the beleaguered BSF party.

Bina told The Indian Express, “We were deployed for area domination during the panchayat elections. We are not connected to polling centre security. Investigating the attack is the job of the police. As far as we know, the blast was triggered by remote control.”

On the police response to the attack, IGP (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said: “They were alerted about the Maoists trying to disrupt polls in the area. A combing operation was also conducted in the vicinity. The border with Jharkhand is barely a few kilometers and most of the Maoists are operate from there. We have asked for the cooperation of the Jharkhand Police to trace the culprits.” Kanojia said the IED used in the attack was probably battery-operated and was set off from a distance.

He added: “It is a normal trend for Maoists who conduct strikes in West Bengal and retreat to Jharkhand. During the panchayat polls, additional forces have been provided to maintain peace in the area. In all, there are 40 companies of security forces in the three districts. Each camp has at least 50 personnel and we have made sure that they are not pressed into election duty.”

The IGP, however, said attacks such as the one on Sunday in Bandwan, are considered as risk factors.

“We are not unprepared. For example, we are equipped with LMGs, AK rifles and mortars,” he added.