Police on Friday said the Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) constable killed by suspected Maoists in Jamui was a resident of Bengal, rectifying their mistake a day after the bloody trail.
Soon after the Jamui attack on Thursday, the police had claimed that the slain constable, Sukanta Debnath (22), was a resident of Uttarakhand. They had said Devnath had jumped off the Dhanbad-Patna Intercity Express to chase the Maoists who had gheraoed the train and was greeted by a hail of bullets.
A day on, the police said Sukanta, who had joined the RPSF a year-and-a-half back, was shot in the chest from “close range”.
“He was not shot from point-blank range. But the bruises show he was shot from close range. The information with the police is that he was shot inside a non-AC general compartment of the train. His body has been sent to Howrah on Friday. It now seems that a Maoist must have got into the compartment and shot him,” superintendent of police (rail) Amitabh Das told The Telegraph. Lakhisarai superintendent of police Rajiv Mishra said things would be clearer once the post-mortem report of Sukanta comes.
A source said the slain constable was a resident of Chowk Chouberia village under Gopalnagar police station in North 24 Parganas, around 85km from Calcutta.
When contacted over the phone, an officer at the Gopalnagar police station said: “Yes, he was from Chowk Chouberia. We have information about the incident and his death. His body is yet to reach the village. The information we have at present is that the constable’s father, Ratan Devnath, is a farmer. Sukanta had joined the RPSF a year-and-a-half back.”
On the motive behind the attack on a running train, the superintendent of police (rail) Amitabh Das said: “Passengers were caught in the crossfire between the forces and the Maoists. The rebels did not intend to kill any passenger. Their motive was to loot arms. There have been no reports of passengers being looted,” the SP (rail) added.
The Maoists attacked the train under Chanan police station in Lakhisarai district.
An officer at Chanan police station confirmed that an FIR had been lodged at the police station based on the statement of an RPSF jawan, Chandu. “The Maoists also took away his firearm. Chandu is a resident of Mandiya in Karnataka. We have lodged a complaint based on his statement,” the officer said.
