RailEnquiry

DHANBAD: Maoists breached railway tracks in the outskirts of Dhanbad killing one policeman, and wounded 13 others at Topchanchi police station on Grand Trunk road. The rebels had announced a bandh on Wednesday and carried out the attacks to terrorise people into observing the strike, according to the police.The Maoists had circulated leaflets and pasted posters in Dhanbad asking the government to stop Operation Greenhunt apart from asking all police personnel to vacate school buildings that have been converted into police camps. The pamphlets also alleged attacks by policemen on tribal women.Dhanbad SP R K Dhan said the operation against the Maoists would continue. RPF commandant Shashi Kumar, who visited the damaged railway tracks, said both the lines were destroyed due to the explosion by the Maoists. Station master of Latehar, Kripalal Prasad, said, "The Maoists assaulted me and my assistant. They later exploded six bombs. One goods train engine was damaged and some part of the station, too, was damaged. An engine driver said the Maoists warned him against ignoring the bandh call."You have read in the newspapers that we have given a bandh call. Then why are you driving the goods train?" the rebels asked the driver.More than a dozen trains were hit by the violence. The three Rajdhanis - Sealdah, Howrah and Bhubaneshwar - were stopped at different stations between Gaya and Gomoh. Ganga-Damodar between Patna and Dhanbad was stopped at Koderma; Ajmer-Howrah, Howrah-Doon, Kalka Mail, Duranto Express were some of the other trains that were stopped and the passengers left stranded.

Service near Dhanbad was restored after about eight hours. Senior police officers, including IG, M L Meena and DIG Lakshman Prasad Singh met the injured policemen in the hospital and paid homage to Dhaneshwar Mahto at the Police Lines.