BHOPAL: Maoists have triggered a powerful landmine blast targeting a police vehicle carrying jail inmates-injuring 19 of them and six policemen-on National Highway 16 in tribal Bastar at a time when the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh is busy reviewing the cases of under-trials languishing in prisons to honour the agreement it had reached with the Naxalites for the release of abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon last month.
The Naxalites triggered a power blast, targeting a police vehicle in which jail inmates were being taken from Kondagaon to Jagdalpur on Saturday afternoon. The blast took place on the busy Raipur-Jagdalpur-Nizamabad National Highway 16 near a culvert at Joba between Bhanpuri and Farsaguda, about 40 Kms away from the Bastar divisional headquarters.
Police said all the injured, seven of them seriously, have been rushed to a hospital at Kondagaon where they were undergoing treatment. The seriously injured are being shifted to a hospital in the state capital. It's not clear why the rebels had targeted a vehicle, carrying civilian jail inmates.
During the last one month-after the Maoists released abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon from 12 days of captivity-the rebels had stepped up violence, ambushing a team of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and killing seven people. Later, there were a number of killings, including murder of a 'salwa judum' leader in South Bastar, firing at the residence of minister for women and child development Lata Usendi in which a guard was killed, triggering blast at a helipad in Bijapur, killing a constable on the spot. Besides, there were many other stray incidents of violence in Bastar.
These violence and killings are taking place at a time when a state government appointed high-powered committee, headed by former Madhya Pradesh chief secretary Nirmala Buch, is on a fast-track reviewing cases of under-trials languishing in jails of Chhattisgarh following an agreement which the state had reached with the Maoist interlocutors for securing the release of abducted collector Alex Paul Menon.
"The violence and killings could be a Maoist pressure tactics for speeding up review of the cases of under-trials, particularly the Maoist cadres whose release the rebels had demanded in exchange of abducted collector", said a senior police official, who was earlier posted in Naxalite affected Bastar region. "Neither there is a ceasefire nor are any peace talks going on. So none can expect that the rebels would refrain from violence if the state is holding series of meetings to review the cases as per the agreement", he pointed out.
Nirmala Buch committee, comprising Chhattisgarh chief secretary and Director General of police, had its first meeting on the day when the rebels released the abducted collector on May 3. Subsequently, this committee had marathon meetings, both in Raipur as well as in Bhopal, which even extended up to midnight, sources said.
"In 2003, Maoists had their presence only 20 per cent geographical area of the state. Now, it's the other way round rebels did not have their presence in state's 20 per cent area. Maoists are continuing violence. I cannot fathom what the spirit of the agreement was and what the high-powered committee is trying to achieve", CGPCC president and former home minister Nandkumar Patel told TOI. State's senior civil and police officials, however, refused to comment on the situation.