JMM MP, gunned down on Holi, had taken on Naxals

On August 9, 2003, when cadres of the Peoples’ War Group raided Lango village, its residents led by Bhado Bandra, battling Naxalites under the banner of Nagrik Raksha Dal...

On August 9, 2003, when cadres of the Peoples’ War Group raided Lango village, its residents led by Bhado Bandra, battling Naxalites under the banner of Nagrik Raksha Dal (NRD), fought back and lynched nine PWG men. The very next day, Sunil Mahato, the former Jharkhand Students’ Union activist who had become JMM general secretary, showed up at Lango, praised the villagers and distributed sweets.

Later elected Jamshedpur MP, Mahato, who backed the NRD and was extremely critical of Naxalites, was gunned down yesterday with three others, including his bodyguards, after a soccer match where he was chief guest at a prize distribution ceremony. The incident took place at Galudih, 28 km from Jamshedpur.

With Mahato supporters taking to the streets, pelting stones and setting up roadblocks to demand a high-level probe into the killing, Jamshedpur and neighbouring towns came to a complete halt today.

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Chief Minister Madhu Koda, whose government includes JMM members, was surrounded by the MP’s supporters while visiting Jamshedpur. Koda, who met Governor Syed Sibtey

Razi this morning, had earlier blamed Naxalites for the attack and announced a CBI probe.

Lango’s Bandra said Mahato, unlike others in his party, had taken on the Naxalites. “Whenever anybody contacted him and sought help against the Naxals, he would respond. He would even show up alone on a motorcycle.”

Last December, when CPI (Maoist) cadres set off a landmine and killed 25 policemen at Kangiro in Bokaro, Mahato was among the first to issue a statement, slamming the Naxalites. “This may have made the PWG target him,” said Bandra, echoing what many here believe to be the reason for the killing.

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But Jamshedpur SSP Pankaj Darad, who took charge last month, was not so sure. “There is no doubt that he was against the Naxalites.But the evidence gathered so far is not sufficient to conclude that this was the motive,” Darad told The Indian Express.

Some in the JMM too don’t think it was the Naxalites, pointing out that no outfit had claimed responsibility for the killing. JMM’s Jamshedpur-based spokesman Ashok Mahato was more direct: “It was a pre-planned murder. The plan was hatched by some of his rivals who laid a trap by organising a football match on Holi, inviting him as the chief guest.”