Just Can’t Keep Track

The ghastly train sabotage of 28 May was done by a rogue militia unit that its Maoist backers have lost control of.

For once, Indian Maoists are on the defensive. Because their understudies, responsible for the Jnaneswari Express disaster that claimed more than 150 lives at Khemashuli in Bengal’s West Midnapore district last week, have spun out of their control. Police investigations reveal that the passenger train got derailed after pandrol clips (which hold rails to sleepers) were removed on a 120 metre stretch, and this was done by members of a ‘village defence committee’ of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA). This group came together in rebellion against police excesses on villagers after a failed bomb attack on Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy in that area in November 2008. And these committees are the first line of resistance for Maoists who have trained and armed this rag-tag militia.  

But in many zones of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura, these militias have turned renegade. The police say they act without the knowledge of their Maoist masters, extorting cash, indulging in vendetta killings and exploiting people. 

West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh tells Open that Maoists have been training youngsters in the use of arms and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), sabotaging rail tracks, and other subversive activities. “Maoists run short training capsules for these boys and men. They act as the eyes and ears of Maoists and provide crucial logistical and other support to the rebels. They’re organised as ‘village defence committees’ and also ensure Maoists’ hold on their respective villages,” says the state police chief. Committee members, usually school dropouts, have also engaged in gunfights with security forces. “Maoists engage them to gather information on the movement of security forces and keep tabs on villagers as well. They’re used as scouts and guides and as the vital conduit to villagers,” says Singh.

However, these militias aren’t well armed. “They’re mostly illiterate and know nothing of Maoist or communist ideology. They’re hot-headed and often trigger-happy. Lack of employment opportunities and poverty has made them join these militias. It gives them a sense of power, which they’re misusing. They’re feared for their Maoist links, and they revel in this,” says a police officer who’s interrogated  PCAPA members. 

Their behaviour has been worsening. “They’ve started looting buses and trucks on the highways, extorting money from villagers, traders and contractors, harassing people and targeting villagers they hold grudges against,” says a senior police officer posted in West Midnapore, “Over the past few months, they’ve been carrying out vendetta killings and branding their victims police informers or CPM activists.” 

Maoists, say those in the know, are alarmed enough to tick off these rogues, even punishing some of them. “But these militias have become like Frankenstein’s monsters. They know Maoists are dependent on them for a lot of things, so they’ve even been defying their masters,” adds the Midnapore officer. But nor can the Maoist leadership disown them. “They have to take responsibility for the activities of these groups. Maoists have to take the blame for the train accident,” says a top home department officer. 

Last week’s sabotage of rail tracks, investigators say, was carried out by the militia unit of the Manikpara-Lodhashuli branch of the PCAPA. This unit is led by Umakanto Mahato, 40, and Bapi Mahato, 20. The operation is thought not to have specific Maoist sanction, and both are said to be on the run from both Maoists and the police. “The intention was to derail a train and maybe loot passengers,” says the home department officer, “But unlike Maoists who carry out any operation with a lot of prior planning and precision, this militia unit didn’t bother to study in detail movements of trains on both the tracks and post lookouts near the stretch where they removed the pandrol clips. So they didn’t know that a goods train was coming down the other track and that it would plough through the derailed coaches of the Jnaneswari Express and kill so many.” 

Last October, Umakanto and Bapi had also led the crowds that detained the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani at Banstala, not far from last week’s accident site. “The PCAPA’s motive then was to get publicity and flex its muscles. This time, too, they wanted to send a message by derailing a passenger train plying through their stronghold on a day that marked a ‘black week’ to protest anti-Maoist operations by joint forces,” he adds. 

 In a damage-control exercise, the CPI (Maoist) has denied involvement in the ghastly sabotage, with state committee member Akash promising trains and innocents safe passage. But, as DGP Singh says, Maoists cannot claim a halo around their heads. Wayward these militias might be, but they are Maoist creations. As for the PCAPA, given the local circumstances, antagonising them is something Maoists can ill-afford.

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