Purulia, May 13: Maoists surrounded Biramdih station in Purulia, bordering Jharkhand, close to Monday midnight and asked railway employees not to run trains because a bandh had been called.

They left after locking up the assistant stationmaster and six others in a room.

This is the station, in the hilly Balarampur area less than 4km from Jharkhand, which was set on fire by the Maoists last June to protest against the “genocide” in Nandigram.

Two days ago, the Maoists blew up a BSF vehicle on poll duty at Bandwan, 45km from Biramdih. A jawan was killed.

The rebels had called the bandh in parts of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore from 6am today demanding proper roads and irrigation and implementation of the rural employment scheme.

Stationmaster Dhaneswar Mundri, 42, was in office when five men in army fatigues barged in and asked why he had come to work. “They snubbed us in Hindi and told us to stop all trains. ‘Obey us, or there will be trouble,’ one of them, who appeared to be the leader, told me,” said Dhaneswar.

He could see through the office window gun-toting men outside. Seven railway employees were huddled to a corner as the Maoists took away a wireless set, a public address system, torches and Rs 1,563. The stationmaster’s mobile phone was also snatched.

“We were too scared to move immediately. We managed to open the door an hour later. I found my phone on the ground and alerted police,” said Dhaneswar.

Trains were halted at various stations as police and railway officials checked the tracks for explosives 300km from Calcutta. An all-clear signal was given past 7am.

“We have begun a probe as the station has been targeted a second time in a year,” said Railway Protection Force assistant commandant G. Durai.