Habul Patra, a cable operator and CPM worker, was dragged out of his home at Bamal village in Lalgarh by the Maoists on Tuesday night. His body was found near his residence. The Maoists had pumped four rounds of bullets into his body, said a police officer of Lalgarh police station.

On Wednesday night, a CPM zonal committee member of Gopiballabhpur in Lalgarh was allegedly killed by Maoists. Prabir Dandaput, 48, was returning to his home when Maoists fired at him.

The bullet-ridden body of Sadhan Mahato, another CPM member, was found at Damakata village in Salboni earlier in the day. The Maoists had put up posters near the bodies stating that they were punished for being police informer. “The incident is supposed to be the handiwork of the Maoists,” said Manoj Verma, SP, West Midnapore

Mahato was forced to leave his home several months ago fearing Maoist onslaught and had returned Salboni on Tuesday.

According to sources in the police, he had returned to finalise the deal to sell off his house. While he was returning from a local tea stall, he was surrounded by a group of 10-12 armed rebels. As Mahato tried to flee, the Maoists shot fire at him. The incident took place very close to Pirakata police camp.

The Maoist-backed PCPA, meanwhile, set fire to a truck near Dhosra village while they were on their way to Jhargram where they had gone to ransack the Parihati Range office.

The PCPA activist ransacked and torched the houses of two CPM party workers at Goaltore. The first day of the PCPA-sponsored two-day bandh paralysed life in the Junglemahal area on Wednesday with shops, educational institutions remaining closed.

Govt sets up security directorate for VIPs
With the increasing threat to political leaders and other celebrities in Bengal the state government today set up a security directorate for VVIP security, which will be headed by an officer of the ADG rank.

The decision was taken at a state Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The deteriorating situation in Lalgarh was discussed at the meeting, which was also attended by Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti, Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, DG Bhupinder Singh, IG (law and order) Sutajit Purokayastha and ADG (CID) Noparajit Mukherjee.