Cops claim body of Maoist hijack victim

Cops claim body of Maoist hijack victim

Twenty four hours after the hijacking of a bus, the State police along with the Central Reserve Police Force finally succeeded in reaching the spot and recovering the body of the bus driver in Khunti district on Friday.

The body of Partha Mishra had been lying unattended at Kenbaki village, about 17 km away from Sonde in Khunti district, since Thursday. The bus was hijacked by Maoists on Thursday and its driver was killed while the attendant was set free by the Maoists.

"Police have brought back the bus and the body of the driver. They are at Khunti where postmortem of the body will be done," informed a senior police officer.

Sources said that the State police along CRPF 194 Battalion went to the spot to recover the bus and bring back the body. Earlier, there were reports that the Maoists had set a trap with landmines near the bus. The kin of the deceased driver including his father Devendra Mishra had gone to take the body on Thursday but the Maoists did not allow them to take the body back with them.

Armed Maoists had hijacked the empty passenger bus near Kendangi village under jurisdiction of Rania police station in Khunti. The bus, named Neel Rath, had ferried a marriage party from Rania to Naxal-affected Saude village and the passengers had alighted at Saude itself when it was stopped by Maoists.

Three blocks Arki, Torpa and Rania of Khunti district are heavily Naxal-affected and have often been a battleground for splinter groups such as the People's Liberation Front of India and the Maoists, each trying to claim supremacy over the other.