M A I N   N E W S

Landmine blast kills 6 cops in Patna

Patna, October 20
Six policemen and a department driver, on their way to help colleagues besieged by extremists, were killed in a landmine blast at Jagpura village in the extremist-dominated district late last night.

It is suspected that the blast was triggered by a gang of criminals, whose chief Jayanandan Yadav was recently gunned down by the police.

State Inspector-General of Police (Administration) C. Lima Imchen said here today that a group of 60 extremists attacked the Dattmai police picket and started firing indiscriminately. A police party from Dhanarua police station that rushed to help was killed when a landmine suddenly went off.

Mr Imchen said the attackers shouted slogans in support of Jaynandan Yadav and it was probably a revenge attack. No criminal gang or extremist organisation had, as yet, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Those killed in the blast were Sub-Inspector S.K. Suman, ASI Babu Lal Soren, police personnel Udai Kumar Choudhry, Amrendra Sharma, Sujit Kumar, Manjeet Kumar and police driver Sunil Yadav.

Reinforcements have been sent to the spot. Senior police and administrative officers, including Additional Director-General of Police (Patna Zone) Ashish Ranjan Sinha, Inspector-General of Police (Operation) Neelmani and others have rushed to the spot.

Meanwhile, the Bihar Police Association (BPA) has urged the state government to immediately pay an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each policeman killed in the blast.

The BPA president, Mr Bhanu Prakash Singh, said here that the state government should also provide houses to the dependants of the deceased policemen and government jobs to a member of each of the victims’ family.

He said a five-member committee of the association, led by its president K.K. Jha had already left for an on-the-spot assessment.

He also urged the state to pay the salary of the remaining service period in one instalment and provide other essential benefits to the victims’ families. UNI