ROURKELA: A railway trackman was killed and another injured after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by Maoist operatives went off on the railway tracks under the K Balang police limits of Rourkela Police District (RPD) on Sunday forenoon.
The deceased trackman, Atua Oram (37), and his injured colleague, Budhua Munda (35), were inspecting the railway tracks for possible sabotage when the explosion took place. The incident occurred on August 3, the final day of the Martyr Week observed by the outlawed CPI (Maoist) outfit. The blast site was located a few kilometres from Renjda station under K Balang police limits in Odisha’s Sundargarh district, around 110 km from Rourkela and close to the Maoist stronghold in the dense Saranda forest of Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district.
The injured person has been shifted to a private hospital at Rourkela for critical treatment.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwahi rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
The SP said the IED blast occurred around 10 am on Sunday, resulting in the death of a South Eastern Railway (SER) employee and injuries to another, who has been shifted for treatment. He added that information about Maoist posters being pasted in the area was received around 11:30 pm on Saturday, following which a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)-based track scanning began on Sunday morning.
During the inspection, nothing suspicious was found near the location where the posters were pasted. However, the blast occurred about one kilometre away, which partially damaged a concrete sleeper.
Wadhwani said security forces in Odisha, including teams from the Special Operation Group (SOG), District Voluntary Force (DVF), and IR Battalion, along with bomb disposal squads, are conducting intense combing operations in the region.
Police sources claimed the IED was planted to target the security forces with the trap of attracting them to the site through Maoist posters.
SER’s Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (SDCM) and spokesperson for the Chakradharpur Division, Aditya Chaudhury, said the Odisha Police are handling law and order around the explosion site. He added that SER is committed to providing necessary support to the families of the deceased and injured workers.
Chaudhury also noted that the Rourkela–Barsuan–Renjda–Topadihi–Karampada rail route is primarily used for mineral transportation. The explosion is attributed to the Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB) of the CPI(Maoist) outfit, which commands multiple states.
Maoist violence originating from Jharkhand’s Saranda forest has resurfaced in the Rourkela police district after nearly five years of relative calm. The resurgence began with the looting of an explosive-laden truck on May 27, followed by the blast that killed an ASI of the Jharkhand-based CRPF Battalion on June 14, both incidents taking place in the Banko forest under K Balang police limits.