CPI-Maoists blew up a railway track in Bihar and killed a CPI(M) activist in Purulia while landmines were recovered from two districts of West Bengal as the Naxalite sponsored 48-hour bandh in three states entered its second day on Tuesday.A report from Patna said the past midnight blast between Bhalui Halt and Jamui railway stations on the East Central Railway in Bihar led to suspension of traffic on Patna-Howrah line for several hours. The down track was blown up in a stretch of two-and-a-half metres following which traffic was also suspended on the up track as a precautionary measure, ECR spokesman A K Chandra said. Traffic on the Patna-Howrah line was resumed on the up line around 7 am. In West Bengal’s Purulia district, a CPI(M) local committee member was called out of his house by suspected Maoists and gunned down late on Monday night, SP Ashok Kumar Prasad said. This is the second killing of a CPI(M) local committee member in the district 18 days after a similar incident occurred at Cheliama village in Barabazar. Police had also recovered nearly six landmines and two rifles. A landmine packed inside a tin was discovered by villagers near Kukurmari village on the Jhargram-Gidhni road on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Maoist bandh paralysed normal life in Purulia district and Jhargram sub-division in West Midnapore, besides several areas in Bankura. The Maoists have called for a 48-hour bandh in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal against the violence in Nandigram.
