Maoists blow up railway tracks in Jharkhand, train services disrupted on Barkakana-Garhwa route

Latehar/Medininagar, November 20

Members of banned CPI (Maoist) are suspected to have blown up a portion of railway tracks in Jharkhand’s Latehar district in the early hours of Saturday, disrupting train services on the Barkakana-Garhwa route, police said.

A blast took place on the railway tracks between Richughuta and Demu stations around 12.30 am, an officer said.

Members of a CPI-Maoist squad blew up railway tracks in Latehar, disrupting movement of trains on Barkakana-Garhwa rail route, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Palamu Range, Raj Kumar Lakra, told PTI.

The banned outfit has called for a nationwide bandh on Saturday to protest against the arrest of its top leader Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da, who carried a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head, by Jharkhand Police.

Bose was the mastermind behind more than 100 incidents of attack and arson in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Lakra said the railway authorities are repairing the tracks.

All the police stations in Palamu, Garhwa and Latehar districts under the Dhanbad Division of Central Eastern Railway have been alerted after the blast, the DIG said.

ECR Railway spokesperson PK Mishra said the trolley of a diesel engine had been damaged in the blast.

Special teams of Barkakana and Barwadih had reached the spot to repair the railway lines and work is on, he said.

Several trains have been diverted, while Dehri-Onsone-Barwadih and Barwadih-Nesubogomo special trains have been cancelled.

Movement of passenger buses from Medininagar to Ranchi had also been stopped, a state government official said. PTI