Calcutta, Feb. 27: Yesterday’s Maoist strike was not only meant to avenge the arrest of two girl guerrillas early this month but also to tell the state administration “do not mess with us”.

A day after the strike, police are sure that the attack was a fallout of the arrests of Bimala Mahato and Sulekha Sarder.

The two were rounded up from the Badiam forest in Belpahari after an hour-long shootout on February 7.

State home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said at Writers’ Buildings: “This incident could be in retaliation of the arrests of the two Maoist women. Unlike previous cases where they did not harm the police, this time they attacked our men in a well-planned manner.”

The Naxalite outfit carried out yesterday’s strike in the same zone from where the police had arrested Bimala and Sulekha.

“The victims were not their targets. They wanted to eliminate top-level officials, including West Midnapore superintendent of police Ajay Nanda. He had a narrow escape as he passed through the road two hours before the strike,” a senior officer said.

Elaborating on what led the Maoists to target Nanda, a West Midnapore police officer said: “It was he who had led the team that arrested Bimala and Sulekha.

“Besides, he forced the two women to walk on a half-km stretch at Bhomragarh village in Bandwan where CPM leader Rabindranath Kar and his wife Anandamoyee were burnt to death on New Year’s eve.”

“Nanda had also asked the duo to reconstruct the gruesome killing,” the official said, adding: “Top CPI (Maoist) leaders thought Nanda’s act had humiliated them and tarnished the image of their organisation.”

Intelligence branch (IB) officials said two women ? identified as Rina and Suchitra ? were assigned to carry out the revenge strike.

According to preliminary reports, the attackers were camping in the forest areas of Belaidihi and Chakadoba for the past two days.

“At the time of operation, a group of 10, including three landmine experts from Andhra Pradesh, split into two groups under the supervision of Madan Mahato and Asim Mandal,” an intelligence official said.