A man removes a black flag from VNS College ground at Narma. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, Jan. 27: Making a mockery of the law and order and police preparedness to tackle Naxalite threat, the Tirhut sub-zonal committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) hoisted black flags at several government schools under Minapur, Hathori and Shivaipatti police stations in the district in the small hours on January 26.

Maoists also put up black flags at highrises and several other corners in the district to register their presence in the area. The rebels pasted pamphlets on the walls and doors of houses of many villagers.

In the pamphlets, the Maoists reprimanded the villagers to mend their ways and keep away from the police force or else “get ready to face the music”.

Maoists are suspicious that some villagers are spying on them for the police force.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Muzaffarpur, Sunil Kumar said the rebels hoisted black flags in areas under Minapur, Hathori and Shivaipatti police station to intimidate the villagers.

“Maoists, numbering 50, equipped with arms and ammunition, intruded into Minapur from adjoining areas and put up black flags at every nook and corner and pasted pamphlets outside the houses of villagers in Deogan, Narma, Kafen, Tarajivar, Mustafapur, Sahila, Bhadai, Turki, Tengrari, Neknam and several other villages.

The Maoists, after pasting pamphlets and hoisting black flags at several points in Minapur, have thrown open challenges to the police force, said the SSP.

The villagers, meanwhile, did not dare to protest against the Maoist activities. They remained a mute spectator as the rebels went about hoisting the flags and pasting the pamphlets, said Satyalok Prasad, panchayat representative of Narma village.

The rebels targeted 18 families of Bhadai, an area with huge population of forwarded caste people, by pasting pamphlets on their doors and threatening them with dire consequences, said Shambhu Singh, a resident.

Villagers have decided to meet chief minister Nitish Kumar and director-general of police (DGP) Neel Mani and plead to them to set up a police picket in the village.

Gauging the seriousness of the matter, deputy superintendent of Police (East) Shibli Nomani have rushed heavy reinforcement to the trouble-torn villages to take stock of situation and instil a sense of confidence among the fear-stricken villagers.

Teachers, students and guardians hoisted the national flag at some schools in Narma and Tarajivar under tight security arrangement. Police team also seized black flags and removed the pamphlets from the villages and sent them to the office of SSP, Muzaffarpur, for further investigation.

The SSP said that the Tirhut sub-zonal committee of the CPI Maoists has claimed the responsibility for hoisting the black flags and pasting the pamphlets.

Sunil Kumar said that he would review the police arrangements with the DSP and the station house officer of Minapur, Shivaipatti, Hathori police stations.

The Maoists made their presence felt on the eve of Republic day when they pasted posters and unfurled black fkag in one of the schools Maker. Their hand written posters were found a middle school at Dariapur and an Urdu Maktab at Maker. The police however denied that black flag was hoisted at Urdu Maktab and termed the pasting of posters as the doings of some miscreants.