The identities of the two have not been ascertained yet.

Their bodies were sent to Bankura Medical College for postmortem, said Bankura SP Vishal Garg.

Interestingly, Garg’s claims come at a time when an official with the Khatra sub-divisional hospital identified the five women as Pabitra Singh Sardar, Sarbani Hansda, Churamani Murmu,

Suraj Moni Tudu and Sumitra Singh Sardar.

People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) spokesperson Asit Mahato attributed the claims of the police as a “tactic to not disclose the identity of two innocent women, killed in the name of Maoists”.

Bankura police, meanwhile, also arrested six persons including suspected Maoists Urmila Murmu and Gangadhar Hansda from Barikul yesterday.

Urmila Murmu and Gangadhar Hansda are members of an armed Maoist squad and they organised the attack on Barikul police station, say sources with the police.

The six were produced in the ACJM court, Khatra, which remanded Urmila and Gangadhar in police custody for 10 days.

The other four were sent in jail custody for two weeks.

In a related development, the first day of the PCAPA indefinite strike hit normal life in the forest area of West Midnapore comprising Jhargram, Belpahari, Goaltore and Salboni.

District Magistrate West Midnapore N S Nigam said offices, educational institutes and shops remained closed and public transport came to a halt.

The PCAPA had called the indefinite bandh in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia in protest against the killing at Barikul.