Anubhi Saxena
Gaya (Bihar): Naxals blew up the residence of BJP leader Anuj Kumar with a dynamite for explosion on Wednesday. After bombing the home, they left a poster appealing for boycotting the upcoming polls.
According to a police, the prohibited Left wing activists striked a close relative of the BJP leader before ordering him to leave the house. Around 20-30 naxalites of the Communist Party of India, armed with weapons. However, “there was no one inside the house and hence, no casualties have taken place,” Gaya senior police officer Rajeev Mishra told news agency ANI.
The presence of Naxals at Dumariya, approximately 80 kilometres southwest of Gaya, remains a dare for security forces. Also, most parts of Gaya district has a global threat from Naxals which makes conducting elections a huge security challenge. Last week on March 16, Maoists had damaged a government school building in Gaya district using improvised explosive device.
The front wall was reduced to wreckage while a major portion of the design inside the house, belonging to the former MLC, suffered extensive damage as well. They also took the keys of his house. The family of former MLC has been on target for the Naxalites for a long time. Before the incident, the Maoists had thrown the BJP leader’s brother out of the house. There is no information about any casualties in the attack.
Ajay Kumar Singh said that the CPI, who was in the number of one hundred, opened the lock and demolished the house with dynamite flare up. The cousin of Anuj Kumar Singh, Ajay Kumar Singh, was kept detained by the CPI Maoist for half an hour. In front of the cousin, the CPI Maoist planted the dynamite and within 15 minutes the house was transfigured into dross.
The explosion was so violent that pieces of the house and cement walls were scattered for several kilometers. Precious furniture, sofa, almiras, and beds in the house were converted into dust from erosion. After the house out-burst, CPI Maoists raised slogans against Police Administration.
Naxal campaign SP Arun Kumar Singh said “that there is a cowardly act by the Maoists. The Lok Sabha election will be held in a fair and peaceful atmosphere. The incidents of CPI-Maoist’s rulings will not affect the Lok Sabha elections. Now on the days of CPI Maoists are numbered, we are ready for all their challenge”.
It is believed that Anuj, a former Member of the Legislative Council from the Janata Dal, has been on the hit list of the Naxals. Further investigation is going in the matter. Anti-Maoist operations have been intensified in the insurgency-hit districts of the state in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The attack comes days ahead of the Lok Sabha poll in which Bihar will vote in all the seven phases, starting April 11 to May 19.
In the first phase, polling will be held in four constituencies on April 11 and in phase two, five seats will vote on April 18. In phase three, five constituencies will vote on April 23, five seats will vote in the fourth phase on April 29 and the fifth phase will be on May 6 when polling will be held on five seats. In phase six on May 12, eight seats will vote and the last phase will also see polling on eight seats on May 19.
