Kalachand Soren, who survived the Maoists’ kangaroo trial at Harulia village in Lalgarh — 175 km from Calcutta — points to Bhim Soren’s house from where they were kidnapped by the Maoists. Picture by Naresh Jana

Lalgarh/Calcutta, March 6: About 48 hours after two CPM members were killed in Barikul and Lalgarh, local CPM leadership advised party workers not to campaign in Maoist territory after sundown.

Scared party leaders also asked key village-level functionaries not to stay at home at night till the elections are over. ?You assemble at a common place and spend the night there,? Tapan Dey, the CPM local committee secretary at Lalgarh in West Midnapore told comrades.

A band of CPI (Maoist) activists kidnapped nine CPM supporters at Harulia village in Lalgarah on Saturday night and set up a kangaroo court before executing party member Kartik Singha. They spared the eight others with a chilling message: ?Quit CPM or meet the same fate.?

Maoists again struck at Satnala in Bankura?s Barikul, 225 km from Calcutta, last night. CPM member Gatilal Tudu was stabbed to death.

The CPM today said statewide protest rallies will be held tomorrow.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the Maoists had accused both Singha and Tudu of being police informers before killing them. A state intelligence branch officer admitted that the duo?s information had helped the police arrest two extremists ? Khelaram Murmu and Baidyanath Hembram ? in the past year-and-a-half.

?Kartick Singha used to visit Lalgarh police station and the Ramgarh police outpost frequently. Gatilal Tudu had a good rapport with the officers of Barikul police station,? a local CPM leader said. ?The arrests strengthened their suspicion.?

Bhim Soren, who was tied to a eucalyptus tree after the kangaroo trial on Saturday, is still in a trauma. He has been living in the local party office since being freed by the police, who let him remain strapped by a wire for several hours thinking that it was connected to a landmine.

Asked when he would return home, Soren said: ?I don?t know. I will have to talk to my party leaders.?

A large police contingent headed by inspector-general (western range) Banibrata Basu combed the nearby forests today. No one, however, has been arrested.