23 April 2014
Maoist rebels are suspected of killing the supervisor of a road construction site and burning a JCB in a remote part of the state of Jharkhand, India.
An unnamed company was building a road between two villages in the municipality of Chaibasa when a gang attacked on Sunday night and killed a middle aged man, Sudhir Kumar Jha, and burned the construction machinery, reports the Times of India.
Police admit the attack is a mystery but say they believe that members of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) are behind the attack.
"Our sources have told us that PLFI is behind the incident," Chaibasa police superintendent Narendra K Singh told the Times.
He added: "Investigation has started in the case. The place is very far away. My forces have reached there. But no obvious reason behind the murder is known yet."
Chaibasa, which is considered a stronghold of rebels, had peaceful election polls on 17 April, with a large number of people defying Maoists’ call for an election boycott.
Police suspect the rebels of trying to spread terror after the polls but, to the Times, superintendent Singh urged caution: "It (the murder) is all a mystery. Let us investigate the case then only I would be able to speak," he said.
