About 40 Maoists blew up tracks late on Saturday night between Rajla and Narganjo railway halts near Kahba bridge, affecting movement of several long-distance and local trains, official sources said.

The police said over 40 ultras blew up 2.5 feet of Up line and five feet of Down line near Rajla station on Jhaja-Jasidih section of East Central Railway late on Saturday night. Jamui and adjoining railway stations are targeted by ultras at regular intervals and almost at will. Dense forests of Laxmipur provide cover to ultras.

Bihar Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) U S Dutt told The Indian Express that jawans of GRP, RPF and local police have reached the site and massive manhunt had been launched to comb the Naxal-infested areas. He said security in other Naxal-affected areas of Gaya, Jehanabad, Nawada and Rohtas had been also beefed up to prevent any such incident.

In Orissa, the Maoists killed Sukura Oram on Saturday night after abducting him from his sister's marriage ceremony at Kumakela village under the Chandiposh police station in Sundargarh district. His body with the throat slit was found on Sunday morning near Champajharan overbridge.

The Naxals have killed six persons during the past eight months, including two CITU activists and a police sub-inspector in Sundargarh district’s Bonai sub-division, the police said.

In Jharkhand, though the bandh passed off peacefully, the threat of violence kept private and public transport off the roads. The state and national highways criss-crossing Ranchi and adjoining Gumla, Lohardaga, Palamau, Garhwa, Chatra, Giridih, Khunti, East Singhbhum and West Singhbhum wore a deserted look. As a result, though life remained by and large normal in towns of these districts, their rural areas remained paralysed. Even the coal mining towns of Khelari, Ramgarh and Bermo looked like under curfew. Shops and offices, including fuel stations, kept their shutters down.

Mines of the Central Coalfields at Piparwar which produce and supply 50,000 tonnes every day were also deserted as its entire 2,000 strong workforce, comprising workers, supervisors and managers, preferred to stay indoors. At Hatia railway station, several goods trains carrying coal and oil rakes were stranded. Seven trains were cancelled while five were diverted.

The bandh paralysed life in the Jangalmahal areas of West Midnapore and neighbouring Purulia and Bankura districts.

In Jhargram town and Lalgarh, Belpahari, Binpur, Jamboni police station areas of West Midnapore, shops downed shutters and vehicles kept off road. Joint security forces were present in Jhargram town and other areas even as a few people ventured out. No vehicle plied in other parts of the sub-division, including Nayagram, Gopiballavpur, Sankrail though some shops were seen open in those places.

Besides the Jharkhand Armed Police, 60 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed to maintain law and order in the districts.

DIG R K Mullick said: “With the security forces entering into strongholds of the Maoists in Ranchi and Khunti, the Maoists have shifted their base in neighbouring Saraikela district.”

Trains come to a halt on Kolkata-Delhi line

Train services on the New Delhi-Kolkata section of the Eastern Railways were disrupted on Sunday after Maoists blew up rail tracks in Bihar’s Jamui district.

The incident occurred around 12.30 am when Maoists blew up the tracks between Narganjo and Jhajha stations, about 360 km from Howrah in Eastern Railway’s Asansol division. Overhead wires snapped near the blast site, following which, 18 long-distance trains on various routes were affected.