Thaindian News

Lalgarh (West Bengal), July 31 (IANS) Security forces engaged in a five-hour gunbattle with suspected Maoist rebels Friday in a forest in West Bengal’s trouble-torn Lalgarh during a combing operation to find two policemen who went missing Thursday evening.
Police said the gunbattle continued for five hours near Bhulabeda forest area in Lalgarh, the headquarters of the Binpur 1 Community Development block, about 200 km west of Kolkata.

The two policemen Sabir Mollah and Kanchan Garia went missing Thursday evening from Brindabanpur locality.

“The gunbattle continued for almost five hours between the security personnel and suspected Maoist rebels. No one has been injured,” West Midnapore District Police Superintendent M.K. Verma told IANS.

But the agitating tribal body People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) claimed that three villagers had received bullet injuries in the firing.

“We’ve received no such report that three villagers were injured in the firing. The firing took place in a forest area between the joint forces and Maoists. The common villagers had no business there. So it’s quite understandable who those people were,” Verma said.

In June, the state government launched the massive security operation to flush out Maoist guerrillas from in and around Lalgarh, after the rebels made the area a virtual “free zone” by torching police camps and offices of the ruling communists and drove out the civil administration.

Lalgarh has been on the boil since November last year when a landmine exploded on the route of the convoy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and two other central ministers — Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada.

Alleging police atrocities after the blast, the PCAPA, backed by Maoists, launched an agitation cutting off the area from the rest of West Midnapore district.

Maoists are active in areas under 21 police stations in the state’s three western districts — West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.