Jharkhand: Maoists blast railway tracks during shutdown

Maoists on Monday blew up railway tracks at two different places in Jharkhand as they began a day-long strike in three states to protest price rise and corruption.

A group of armed Maoists packed explosives to blast a stretch of railway track, 4 km from Mile station in Ramgarh district, at 1.15 am, police sources said in Ranchi.

The guerrillas blasted another stretch of railway track between Dania station in Bokaro district and Bihars Jageshwar station, disrupting train services on the two routes, the sources said.

The Maoists also warned the station master of Dania against movement of trains during the shutdown, and took away the keys of the railway crossing gate there, the police said.

Transporting of coal to different places has also been affected following the shutdown, the sources said. The Maoists had pasted posters in different places saying that they have called a bandh in Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa today to protest price rise and corruption.