US embassy cable - 05CALCUTTA7

UNCLAS CALCUTTA 000007 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PHUM, IN, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: SENIOR POLICEMAN AMONG SEVEN KILLED IN MAOIST BIHAR BLAST 
 
REF: 04 CAL 450, 04 CAL 0143, 01 CAL  0156 
 
1. Prior to the approaching state assembly elections in Bihar 
and Jharkhand, a district police chief of Munger in Bihar, K.C 
Surendrababu, along with six other policemen, were killed on 
Wednesday January 5th, when their vehicle was blown-up by a 
remote-controlled landmine. The landmine was allegedly planted 
by the newly formed ultra-Left -- the Communist Party of India 
(Maoist). The Maoists removed the firearms of the slain 
policemen after they died in the blast. 
 
2. The Maoists served a warning to the Bihar government after 
the later banned their proposed rally at the capital city Patna 
in the first week of December 2004. The Bihar police had 
arrested about 300 Maoists sympathizers, who had gathered at 
Patna to attend the rally. Following this, the Maoist had 
launched several attacks in December on Bihar and Jharkhand 
railway stations. Sources in the Bihar Police told Post that the 
Wednesday's incidence could be termed as one of the first major 
events by the CPI (Maoist) after its formation in September last 
year following the merger of Maoist Communist Center and the 
Peoples War. 
 
3. (SBU) According to our consulate contact in the Bihar police, 
the slain district police chief, along with his staff, had gone 
to supervise a joint operation, with the help of neighboring 
Jamui district police, in connection of the looting of guns and 
ammunitions from the police posted at Railway station. State 
Home Secretary, Girish Shankar, said that the blast took place 
in the evening in which the vehicle they were returning in was 
thrown-up several feet above the ground due to the three 
explosives embedded on the road. There were no survivors and all 
the bodies have been recovered. Surendrababu, who was a native 
of Andhra Pradesh and was the 1997-batch Bihar-cadre Indian 
Police Service (IPS) officer, died on the spot along with his 
bodyguard, driver, and four other policemen. This is the second 
incidence in Bihar in which an IPS officer has been killed in a 
landmine blast operated by the Maoists. In October 2000, 
Logardagga (now in Jharkhand, then Bihar) district police chief 
Ajay Kumar Singh was also killed in the same manner along with 
eight other policemen. 
 
4. As against Andhra Pradesh the Bihar government has ruled-out 
all possibilities of offering talks with the Naxalites. The 
Bihar Chief Secretary K.A.H. Subramanian has categorically said 
-"the blast is only targeting the policemen and it has forced us 
to rethink how to tackle the Naxalite menace. The present 
atmosphere is not conducive for holding talks with the 
Naxalites." Keeping in view that the state government is now 
planning to set-up a special Naxal cell in the police 
headquarters at Patna. "We have an Inspector General of Police 
who supervises operations against insurgency, but we will soon 
have a full-fledged Naxal cell to effectively check this 
menace," said the Chief Secretary. 
 
5. (SBU) Comment: As the state assembly elections draws close, 
such incidents in Bihar and Jharkhand are likely to go up. At 
the same time, this incident has adversely affected the moral of 
Bihar police. "It could just be a curtain raiser," said a 
high-level police contact in Bihar. He added -"the Maoists, 
normally always oppose polling and they have shown their 
displeasure through violence in the past". During the 2004 
general elections about 29 policemen were killed in a single 
incident in April in Jharkhand. Both the states -- Bihar and 
Jharkhand, are to go to the polls in three phases on February 3, 
15 and 23. End Comment. 
 
 
 
 
 
SMITH