Six miscreants came to the Shiarboni primary school on motorbikes at 2.30 pm and entered the room where Udaybhanu Lohar was teaching students of Class III and started firing at him. Lohar was hit in the back. A student, Marshal Murmu, was also shot in the stomach. As the students panicked and started screaming, the miscreants rode off, thinking that the teacher had died.

Both Lohar and Murmu have been admitted to a local hospital.

This is the second time Maoists squads have targeted teachers inside schools. On September 14, Maoists had gunned down Kartyk Mahato, a para-teacher in Jamda High School, while he was taking classes. According to police, Udaybhanu, who is a member of CPM’s local committee in Goaltore, had been the target of the Maoists for some time now. Earlier he had received death threats.

In a separate incident, CPI supporter Nishikanto Bera was dragged out of his house Boilashol village at 9.30 pm yesterday and beaten up. An injured Bera was found near a forest on Thursday morning. He was taken to Midnapore Medical College Hospital where he succumbed to injuries. Bireshwar Bera, a relative of Nishikanto, said: “The Maoists and the PCAPA members were asking him to leave CPI. But he refused to budge. They came last night with their faces covered. They were saying that he was a police informer.”

In another incident a former policeman, Chidam Hembram (70), was hacked to death in Belpahari. The police said he may have been murdered due to family feud. The body of Hembram, a resident of Barra village, was found on Thursday morning.

The PCAPA has, meanwhile, called for a bandh in Lalgarh and adjoining areas from Friday. They have asked the police to trace Raju Adak and Joydeb Bera, two of its committee members picked up by the police a week ago, but not produced before a court.

Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma, however, said the duo was detained for interrogation and was released later. Asit Mahato, spokesperson for the committee, said: “The police have to show us where the duo is. They have not returned home after being picked up last week. From tomorrow we will block all roads and rail tracks in the area. This will continue till the two persons are shown to us.”

Arms and ammunition recovered from ‘abducted’ Trinamool worker’s house
The police today recovered a rifle and 250 rounds of ammunitions from the residence of a Trinamool Congress worker in West Midnapore.

Interestingly, Shyamal Acharya went missing three days ago. Thereafter, the party district leadership lodged a complaint with the police superintendent, following which the police visited his residence. “The Trinamool Congress had filed a complaint stating that one of their party workers was abducted. The police team visited his house and found arms and ammunition. Investigation is being carried out,” said Manoj Verma, Superintendent of Police of West Midnapore.

According to police, Acharya used to reside in Udaypalli in Tantigeria near Midnapore town. He is originally a resident of Keshpur. Trinamool Congress, however, lambasted the police and accused them of stage managing the entire episode. Pradyut Ghosh, general secretary of district Trinamool Congress, said: “The police have planted the arms and ammunition at his house to malign us. We went to the police after our worker went missing. They did not take any action nor were they able to trace him. They stage managed the entire thing.”