KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Jan 5: The Naxal attack resulting in the deaths of two policemen at Jhilrua village in West Singhbhum’s Goelkera thana area on Tuesday evening is an attempt to regain their weakened strength in Kolhan.
The outlawed outfit, CPI-Maoist, which carried out the attack similar to the way it had committed while killing the JMM MP, Sunil Mahto at Baguria in Ghatsila sub-division in 2007 was engineered at Jhilrua to re-establish its lost position after the arrest of Prashant Bose in November.
But unlike in the Sunil Mahto killing at Baguria, the Naxals’ target was the police and not the former BJP legislator of Manoharpur, Gurucharan Nayak.
West Singhbhum SP, Ajay Linda said the Naxal attack at Jhilrua village on Tuesday evening was aimed at killing the policemen who accompanied Nayak to a football tournament venue.
“There were a large number of Naxals present at the football tournament venue in the guise of spectators. When the tournament was over and a prize-giving ceremony got through, the rebels had attacked the bodyguards of Nayak who remained untouched, ” said Linda.
He said the rebels had overpowered two of the three bodyguards before slitting their throats and shooting them. The third bodyguard, Ram Tuddu, wrestled with the belligerent Naxals and somehow managed to escape with minor injuries.
“The former legislator was among the attackers, but he was not harmed in anyway. This is the reason we assume that rebels had targeted the bodyguards who were police jawans, ” said the senior police officer.
Moreover, Linda said despite Jhilrua was an extremely sensitive area, the legislator did not feel to intimate the administration about his visit to the village.
“Had the legislator given the prior information about his visit to that village, we would have followed SOP and nothing of the sort would have taken place, ” Linda pointed out.
It may be recalled here that the JMM’s Jamshedpur MP, Sunil Mahto was killed by Naxals while he was attending a football tournament at Baguria on March 4, 2007 evening. In the attack, four of his bodyguards were also killed.
Significantly, senior BJP leader, Babulal Marandi had come to West Singhbhum for visiting the Jhilrua village on Wednesday morning, but the police did not allow him to reach the village in view of security reasons.
