April 13: Three CPM leaders working in the rural job scheme were plucked out for guerrilla-style execution in Bengal and suspected insurgents killed six railway guards in Bihar on a day Maoists were reaping the gains of joining the mainstream in the neighbouring Nepal.

The jawans were killed when alleged Maoists blew up the Government Railway Police office in Bihar’s Jhajha railway station. The attackers, around 200, looted arms and ammunition.

Police had initially blamed Maoists for the Bengal murders, too, but later said they were investigating whether the assailants were masquerading as insurgents to settle an old score.

The three shot dead this afternoon in Bengal were part of five labourers taken hostage by seven armed men at Jagannathpur, around 170km from Calcutta, in West Midnapore’s Salboni. The labourers were taking a break from road repairing project under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

“After preliminary investigation, we believe the killings were carried out by Maoists,” said Raj Kanojia, the inspector-general of police (law and order).

Asim Roy, a labourer who saw the abduction, said: “Seven people with rifles slung across their shoulders emerge from the forest (the area falls in Arabari jungle). One of them had a local Congress leader, Biren Singh, by his collar.”

“As soon as they aimed their guns, everyone fled. I hid behind a tree. I saw them tie the hands of the labourers and Biren with gamchha and lead them down the road.”

Biren — he and another hostage escaped — said: “They made us kneel on the roadside and asked us to shout ‘Maobad Zindabad’. They took Mukul, Jugal and Nabakumar away a little inside the jungle and asked them to kneel. Then they opened fire. I saw all of them fall.”

The police said they have heard that one Babulal Hembram, who was once fined by the CPM in a pond dispute, was among the assailants. It is being probed whether the attackers are Maoists or hired criminals.

Ironically, the twin attacks coincided with the dramatic poll result in Nepal where Maoists appeared headed to lead the government.