Ranchi, Aug 24 (Inditop.com) The Ranchi-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had a close shave early Monday as Maoists blew up a railway track in Latehar district of Jharkhand soon after the train had passed.
In two separate incidents, Maoist rebels blew up a railway track and blasted mobile phone towers in Jharkhand.
“Maoist rebels blew up the track around 6:30 a.m. on Monday and Rajdhani Express luckily had crossed from the same route at 5:30 a.m.” Ambrish Gupta, Public Relations Officer of Dhanbad railway division, told Inditop over phone. “Train services have resumed after repair work,” he added.
According to police, activists of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) blew up the railway track between Kumundi and Hehegada railway station in Latehar district, around 140 km from Ranchi early Monday morning. Railway services on this route were affected for nearly four hours.
In another incident, Maoist rebels blasted mobile phone towers of BSNL and Reliance at Tukbera village of Palamau district, around 190 km from Ranchi, late Sunday night. No one was injured in the incident. Around 20 to 30 CPI-Maoist rebels blew up the towers.
The CPI-Maoist has called a two-day strike in five states — Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh — to protest the arrest of Anil Kumar, a CPI-Maoist politburo member and Kartik, a central committee member.
Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 districts of Jharkhand. Nearly 1,500 people have been killed in Maoist-related violence in the last eight years.
