Maoists on Wednesday torched construction machinery at the Bejjur-Aheri bridge construction work site near Gudem in Bejjur mandal of Adilabad district. The violent incident which took place in the small hours left an excavator, a tipper and a tractor partly burnt.
According to police about six armed naxalites arrived at the construction site of the bridge across Pranahita river about 13 km from Bejjur mandal head quarter village at about 3 am. They woke up four construction labourers present on the site and seized their cell phones while warning them to keep silent.
The extremists set on fire a tipper, a tractor and an excavator-loader by breaking open the diesel tanks of the machines and douging those. The extremists left after about 30 minutes, according to sources.
The incident came ahead of the two-day all-India bandh call given by Communist Party of India (Maoist) for May 4 and 5. The extremists are assumed to have crossed over from Aheri area in Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra.
The police suspect that the incident could be linked to the bandh call though extortion of money from the contractor is not being ruled out as the reason for it. The police nevertheless have been alert for such incidents, evident from the searches they conducted in the area since the last two days.
The police conducted house to house searches at Gudem on Monday and at Bejjur mandal head quarter the following day apparently on being tipped off about the Maoists crossing over into Adilabad district. The naxalites had evidently taken shelter elsewhere and came out in the dead of the night to commit the violent incident.
The under-construction Gudem-Aheri bridge is an important link between the Southern and Northern parts of India as it joins Telangana and Maharashtra in the eastern side of this district. It is being constructed at the site where the Pranahita branches out into two.
Published - April 27, 2016 09:53 am IST