Buddha on his knees,Mamata on their side,Maoists seize Rajdhani

In the drama at Banstala in the Jhargram-Kharagpur section,the Maoists and their supporters wrote the script,cocking a snook at the Railways under Mamata Banerjee and the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in the state.

The Rajdhani Express was intercepted by a 1,500-strong mob at 2.35 pm and its driver and his assistant were taken hostage. Armed men then called the shots,demanding among other things the release of Chhatradhar Mahato of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) — the seizure of the train came a day after the PCAPA announced it would resort to an armed struggle to achieve its goals.

At 10.10 pm,the Rajdhani Express finally resumed its journey after security forces,being directed from New Delhi where Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was personally monitoring the situation and kept in touch with both the forces and the state government,closed in and the mob fled.

A relief train with food,drinking water and medical supplies came in from Kharagpur and a pilot engine arrived from Jamshedpur to escort the Rajdhani.

Earlier,a police team,which approached the spot from the Jhargram-end,came under fire in Kanchanmil. The policemen returned the fire. A police driver,who sustained bullet injuries,had to be removed to hospital.

Security forces raided villages around Banstala but found them deserted. Everyone seemed to have fled,fearing police action. Sources said Banstala and its adjoining areas had been on the police radar ever since the abduction of Sankrail police officer Atindranath Dutta last week. The Maoists who abducted Dutta had stopped for nearly two hours at Joalbhanga village,3 km south of Banstala station,before moving to their jungle hideout.

Although window panes of the Rajdhani Express were smashed,the passengers were not harmed. But six passengers were said to have sustained minor injuries. Anchal Das,former MP from Jajpur in Orissa who was one of the passengers,said some people had entered a few coaches and looted blankets,bedsheets,food and water bottles. “A number of them were seen carrying arms. Many train attendants panicked. They changed their uniform and mingled with the passengers,” Das said.

The mob scrawled slogans on the coaches,demanding the release of Chhatradhar Mahato. While all this was on, PCAPA vice-president Santosh Patra claimed they had “not kidnapped” the drivers. It was a blockade,he said,and the drivers had merely been “detained for violating a bandh call”.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the welfare of the passengers was being taken care of. He said Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik had spoken to him. “The problem is that the Maoists joined what was initially a PCAPA matter.”

From New Delhi,the Centre took charge shortly after the crisis broke out. It moved one company of the CRPF stationed at a place near Jhargram.

The train was not being escorted by RPF personnel. Sources said the fact that this was a special weekly train and involved day-journey through troubled areas was the reason that no RPF men were on escort duty.

Suspecting that Maoists may have laid an ambush,the Home Ministry directed security personnel to move on foot. The combined forces of the CRPF,RPF and the West Bengal police trekked 6 km to reach the place where the train was being held.

“Those who had held the train hostage dispersed the moment the security forces reached the spot,” RPF Director General Ranjit Sinha said. Loco-pilot K Anand Rao and his assistant were found near by.

With Raghvendra Rao in New Delhi