Jamui (Bihar): A group of armed Naxals targeted the Chaura railway station located on the Patna-Kolkata route on Saturday morning and held the station master captive for nearly 30 minutes. The insurgents also issued a threat saying they would blow up the station. As a result, rail operations were disrupted for several hours on the route that falls in the Naxal infested district.
However, during this time the Naxalites tried to take the station manager hostage with them but the station manager and other employees managed to flee from the spot.
As per reports, the naxals reached Chaura railway station in the wee hours, disguised as police personnel and barged into the cabin of Station Master Vinay Kumar, and forced him to stop operations as they were observing 'naxal week' in the region. "When the station master asked them why he would do such a thing, they introduced themselves as naxals and pulled out their fire arms," said one of the other railway employees at the station, an eyewitness, citing anonymity.
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Superintendent Jamui, Pramod Kumar Mandal, confirmed the incident saying, "We have initiated a search operation of the entire area, including railway tracks and railway station and then given green signal to railway officials to resume operation on the route." Following the incident, major trains like Himgiri express had to be stopped at various railway stations along the route. Finally, the railway operations resumed after police and CRPF officials carried out a complete security in the area and gave a green signal.
