A school teacher, also a CPI(M) supporter, was allegedly tricked by an acquaintance who took him inside a forest where a waiting group of armed Maoists shot at him but he managed to escape by feigning dead, police said on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the ultra belt of Belpahari in West Midnapore district on Friday night when Bharat Chandra Singh was taken inside the Dakai forest by an acquaintance Ashok Karmakar, who had been jailed for three months for being a Maoist linkman, they said.
According to police, Mr. Singh, who teaches at Tulsiboni primary school, was then robbed, severely beaten up and shot in the hands and leg by a waiting group of armed Maoists.
The teacher feigned dead till the Maoists left the area and limped back around 10 km to the Belpahari police station on Saturday morning, they said, adding he was rushed to the Jhargram hospital immediately.
Meanwhile, suspected Maoists torched a police vehicle, being towed by a brakedown van, at Jamtalgara forest area under Belpahari police station late Friday night.
