Huge cache of explosives seized in Gaya

GAYA: Police seized 70 kg of ammonium nitrate, an explosive, 52 detonators and 15 pieces of gelatin sticks during a raid at a village in Bihar’s Naxalite-affected Gaya district on Thursday.

Acting on specific information that explosives were kept at Bodhchak village under Wazirganj police station limits, police raided the house of Ashok Singh early this morning, Superintendent of Police R Mallar Vizi said.

Led by Wazirganj Deputy Superintendent of Police Saurabh Kumar, police seized the explosives allegedly meant for supply to the Naxalites from the house.

The police also seized six drums of diesel and one motorcycle, the SP said.

 

45 killed in Shimla

Rescue workers look for survivors from the crash some 370 km from New Delhi.

A passenger bus plunged 200 meters (650 feet) into a gorge in northern India on Tuesday, killing 45 people, police said.

Rescue workers look for survivors from the crash some 370 km from New Delhi.

The bus driver died in the wreck, making it difficult for police to immediately determine the cause, said R.M. Sharma, the superintendent of police in Shimla — the district in the Himachal Pradesh state where the incident occurred.

Shimla is about 370 km (229 miles) from the capital city, New Delhi.

Deep Ram, head police constable in Shimla, said roads in the area are narrow and winding and the driver may have lost control.

Deadly road crashes are common in India and often result from overcrowded and old buses coupled with speeding drivers.

In October, a bus carrying 67 workers crashed into a parked truck in the northeast state of Assam, killing at least 23 people.
And in September, 14 people died when a bus crashed into a roadside tent while trying to round a curve in the eastern state of Bihar.

 

Violence breaks out during Bihar Bandh

Violence broke out during the dawn-to-dusk Bihar bandh called on Saturday by various student organisations to protest against the attacks on Biharis by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists in Mumbai, police sources said.

The day-long Bihar bandh was called by various student organisations, particularly AISA, the student wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), an ultra Left party, to protest attacks on north Indian candidates during a railway recruitment examination in Mumbai.

Students ransacked Shekhpura railway station and delinked the engine of a passenger train on Saturday morning.

“Some students pelted stones at the police and totally disrupted rail traffic on the Kiul-Gaya railway line,” a district official said.

The police used lathi charge and have taken half a dozen persons in custody after stones were pelted at them.

In Darbhanga, activists of the AISA ransacked Darbhanga railway station and tried to disrupt rail traffic. The police used lathicharge to disperse them.

Similar reports of violence are reaching Patna from Gaya, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Siwan and Muzaffarpur.

However, life in Patna is normal and till now there is no disruption of services owing to the bandh. Vehicles are plying and shops are open. The district administration has deployed additional police forces to take on trouble-makers during the bandh.

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar said patrolling has been intensified and forces have been deployed at vital points to meet any eventuality.

Two days ago various student organisations gave a call for Bihar shutdown on October 25 to protest attacks by MNS  activists in Mumbai.

On Friday, student wings of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Lok Janshakti Party withdrew from the strike.

The ongoing violent protests have continued for last five days.