Maoists let go train; passengers safe

After keeping the local train, carrying about 400 passengers, hostage for over four hours in Jharkhand's Latehar district Wednesday, the Maoists finally released the train, district and railway officials confirmed the report.

'Nobody was harmed at any point of time and all passengers are safe,' said A.K. Chandra, chief public relations officer (East Central Railways).

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The train was allowed to move at about 11.40 a.m.

As per earlier reports, the train going from Barkakana to Mughalsarai was hijacked early this morning by around 200 armed rebels. In fact, Maoists had hijacked the train to protest against the railways for not stopping rail services although the rebels had called for a shutdown in the state.

The bandh was called to protest the killing of five people in Latehar on April 15 by security personnels. The rebels, however, claimed that those were innocent civilians hence demanded compensation of Rs.1 million for the families of each of those killed.

Police said the guerrillas had planned to target the New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express, which was to pass through the station 30 minutes after the blast. The route of the train was changed after the incident.

The banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has called for boycott of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. Eighteen people, including 10 security personnel, were killed in Maoist violence in the first phase of polls at different places in Bihar and Jharkhand on April 16.