Patna: Rampaging Maoists burnt alive a truck driver during the daylong shutdown enforced in Jharkhand on Friday, causing panic in the area.
The call for shutdown had been given to protest the ongoing operation by security forces to free the state from rebel clutches.
Reports said a truck coming from neighbouring Odisha state, headed to Jamshedpur, happened to cross the Khunti district area on Friday, when the rebels stopped it. They shot the driver and set the vehicle on fire, burning the wounded diver alive, reports added.
The dawn-to-dusk shutdown badly hit normal life in the twin states of Jharkhand and Bihar, as buses stayed off the roads in many pockets considered to rebel strongholds. Business establishments also remained shut, while government offices saw thin attendance. Railway services were also partially hit.
The rebels are angry at ‘Operation All-out’ launched by the Jharkhand police to free all the hills and jungles from Maoist clutches. In the last year, many of the top rebels have been gunned down in police encounter killings, died for want of medical attention or fled their hideouts after being surrounded by the security forces.
In April this year, at least five Maoist insurgents were killed in encounters with security forces in Jharkhand’s Latehar district. Before that, four Maoist commanders including two women were killed in a bloody shoot-out with the police in Palamu district.
In a major setback to the rebels, key Maoist commander Deo Kumar Singh, who was wanted by the police in many Indian states for around 150 cases registered against him, died of a heart attack in his Jharkhand hideout.
The dead Maoist carried a reward of Rs10 million on his head and had emerged as a major challenge to security forces that never caught him alive.
