Maoists raid rly station in Bihar; abduct ASM, porter

Maoist rebels abducted an Assistant Station Manager and a porter, and set ablaze a signal panel at Masudam station in Bihar's Munger district in a midnight attack, disrupting movement of trains on Kiul- Jamalpur section through the day, police said today.
The abducted ASM and railway porter were released in a forest after spending several hours in captivity, SP (Railway), Jamalpur, Shankar Jha told PTI over phone.
The naxalite group--CPI (Maoist)-- is observing a bandh in Bihar and Jharkhand today to protest police action against its cadre.
Chief Public Relations Officer of Eastern Railways, Ravi Mohapatra, however, said the railways had no official confirmation about the release of ASM Mukesh Kumar and porter Nirendra Mandal.

An armed squad of around 15 underground rebels that also had some women set ablaze the signalling panel before abducting the two.
The SP said the Maoists set free Kumar and Mandal in a nearby forest after they learnt about a "huge" contingent of security personnel combing the area and fled.

Kripasagar, the station house officer of Government Railway Police Station, Jamalpur, said the extremists threw some official documents they had snatched in the fire that engulfed the signalling panel.
Masudam railway station is under the Malda division of Eastern Railways.
The movement of trains was restored after the fire was doused around 5:30 a.m. but had to be suspended again at 6:40 a.m. following a phone call, apparently from Maoists, to the control room in Malda threatening to kill the captives if traffic was not stopped, Mohapatra said.

"The Maoists said they would kill the railway personnel they had abducted if trains are allowed to ply on the Kiul- Jamalpur section," Mohapatra said, adding it forced the authorities to divert or short terminate some trains.
Some trains were run through alternative routes via Jhajha and Barauni, while a few others short terminated, East Central Railway CPRO Rajesh Kumar said.