Lalgarh: Maoists kill 5 CPI-M men in cold blood

Four Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters and a party worker were shot dead by Maoists on Friday after they suspected them to be police informers and their bodies dumped on the highway at West Midnapore and Purulia districts, the police said.

Ashok Ahir, Swapan Ahir, Sanatan Ahir and Nazrul Mir were shot dead from point blank range early on Friday for being "police informers" and the bodies left on Silda-Bankura road at Belpahari area near Lalgarh, the police said.

The middle-aged CPI-M supporters were picked up from their residences at Chandabila village in Binpur area by a group of 20-armed Maoist cadre on Thursday midnight.

They had been missing since then and the bodies were recovered on Friday morning, members of a team of police and paramilitary forces who reached the spot said.

In a separate Maoist attack at Pathardihi village in Arsha area in Purulia district, a 55-year-old CPI (M) worker identified as Srikanta Mahato was shot dead after he was picked up from his residence on Thursday night.

His bullet-riddled body was found lying in a jungle near the village bordering Jharkhand on Friday morning.

According to the police, Maoist literature and posters found strewn near the bodies condemned them as "police informers".

The hand-written posters also revealed that the bloody campaign in Lalgarh and nearby jungle mahal areas will continue until "the arrested Maoist cadre were produced before the court".

One Maoist ultra Shibu Majhi, who was arrested from Arsha on Friday, was produced in a local court that sent him to five-day police custody.

Meanwhile, life in the jungle mahal area comprising West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts have come to a standstill due to a Maoist-sponsored 24-hour bandh, which began on Friday.

Shops, business establishments, offices, schools were closed and no vehicle was seen plying on the roads, police said. Earlier this month, Maoists had shot at and seriously injured 50-year-old Alok Mahali, a CPI (M) leader, at Gidhni in West Midnapore district.