Members of the CPI (Maoists) shot down a clerk working at a construction site of a bridge on Tuesday night in rebel-hit Peshrar block in Lohardaga district, over 130 km from Ranchi. The miscreants also charred two vehicles on the site. This is the second incident by Maoists in the last 72 hours.
After the news broke, police on Wednesday sent a team under the aegis of Lohardaga SDPO Jitendra Kumar to the mishap site, around 50km from the district headquarters to take stock of the situation while separate teams comprising district police and CRPF began a combing operation to trace and nab the extremists, said officials.
The deceased has been identified as Vickey Gupta, in his early 30s and hailed from Garhwa district, said police sources.
“He was a relative of the contractor Vikash Gupta, who was assigned the bridge construction work. Last year too, the deceased was among the three who was attacked by rebels during construction of a road project in Lohardaga,” said a cop.
Lohardaga SP Priyanka Meena confirmed the incident while talking to reporters this morning. “Maoists have killed a Munshi was killed and two vehicles engaged in construction works were put on fire on Tuesday night. Police is investigating the incident,” she said
Officer in-charge of Peshrar police station Ramawadh Karmali said that a poclain (machine for digging soil) and a tractor were set on fire at the construction site. “The same squad of Ravindra Ganjhu could be behind the incident, the motive being to instill fear and extract levy,” he said. According to information, the construction cost of the bridge over Onegada river is estimated to be at around Rs 2.5 crore.
On Sunday, Maoists had killed a 55-year-old villager, Jagisr Bhagat in Mungo village under Serendag police station on suspicion of being a police informer when he along with his wife was on their way to their grocery shop at night. Rebels had first held them captive by tying the duo and then pumped bullets into Bhagat’s body while freeing his wife later on. Dreaded Maoist Ravindra Ganjhu’s squad was suspected to be behind the incident.
