Midnapore, Nov. 7: The CPI (Maoist) today confirmed that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the target of Sunday’s blast in West Midnapore and threatened “countless explosions” in the future.
The statement came on a day villagers in Lalgarh, close to the blast site, dug up roads to stop police raids to catch Maoists.
The attack on November 2 was aimed at the chief minister’s convoy, the statement issued by Kanchan, secretary of the outfit’s Bengal chapter, said. Even if the police strengthened his Z-plus security four times over, he would still not be safe, it said. “Countless explosions would take place in the near future.”
“If the CPM and the police continue attacking us, we will take revenge. We will not let Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose sleep and the state government’s armoury will not be enough to protect them,” the letter said.
The outfit claimed that the explosion proved local people supported the Maoists’ attack and described the operation as “a symbol of people’s resistance”.
Bhattacharjee escaped as his convoy crossed the spot 15 minutes before the blast. The lead pilot car in Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s convoy suffered the brunt of the explosion.
The CPI (Maoist) also criticised the government’s decision to suspend relatively junior police personnel.
Nearly 4,000 tribals from about a dozen villages dug up the roads connecting West Midnapore and Bankura today.
Rajesh Kumar Singh, West Midnapore superintendent of police, said: “The villagers are digging up the roads in Lalgarh to prevent the raids. We are looking for people hiding in the villages and assisting the Maoists. But we will continue the raids.”
The villagers also gheraoed the police station in Lalgarh town and cut power supply to the area protesting the arrest of three school-going teenagers. The three got bail today, but three others arrested yesterday were remanded in police custody for a week.
A team from Calcutta’s Central Forensic Science Laboratory visited the blast site today.
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