Belpahari, Oct. 28: Every evening, Abhiram Murmu flees to Jharkhand from Belpahari, scared of the night raids by the men in khaki and the Maoist death threats to the villagers at dawn.

The rise in police raids is a result of the October 22 blast by the rebels that killed a doctor and a nurse in Belpahari, a Maoist hotbed in West Midnapore.

Five villagers — one of them alleged Maoist sympathiser Ashok Karmakar — were arrested from Shankhabhanga, Patharchakri and Simulpal villages.

“From Wednesday (October 22) night, the police raids started,” said 24-year-old Abhiram (name changed).

“Joint police teams from Jharkhand and Bengal arrived at our village, Shankhabhanga, and conducted searches door to door.”

After the police left, the Maoists came, the youth said.

“Around 4am, the rebels came and called us out. They told us to gherao the Belpahari police station demanding the release of Ashok Karmakar. They threatened to kill us if we refused. I was scared and fled.”

The youth, who works as a labourer in Chennai, has been staying the night at the house of Ramesh Nayek, a 45-year-old farmer and acquaintance in Pakuriasole village in Jharkhand, just 2km away.

The morning, he spends in Shankhabhanga, the evening and night in Jharkhand.

Abhiram had a brush with Maoists earlier and does not want a repeat.

“Six months ago, I had applied for a passport to work in Dubai. The police came to my house for an inspection, but the Maoists thought I was a police informer. One night, they surrounded my house, dragged me out and beat me up,” he said.

Abhiram is not the only one shuttling between Bengal and Jharkhand scared of the baton and the bullets.

Ananta Singh (name changed), a 32-year-old farmer from Shankhabhanga, also hides in Pakuriasole in the house of an acquaintance.

“On October 19, nearly 30 Maoists came to my house and demanded rice and dal,” the farmer said.

“I could not give them food because I did not have anything right then. They threatened me with dire consequences as they left. Last Thursday, they came again and told me that I would have to lead the gherao at Belpahari police station, or else they would kill me,” Ananta said.

“I was scared after the police raids and the Maoist threats.”

Ananta hides in the house of Surjyakanta Murmu, a farmer in Pakuriasole.

Like Abhiram, he comes back each morning to Shankhabhanga.

Told that the raids were scaring the villagers, West Midnapore superintendent of police R. Rajsekharan said the force had not harassed anyone during the search operations.

“We carried out raids and questioned villagers but we did not harass anyone,” he said.

“Fear psychosis is making them flee, I think. We know that the Maoists often visit the villages and intimidate them. We appeal to the villagers not to co-operate with them. We will provide them security,” he added. “We have plans to set up a CRPF camp in the area.”