Supporters of a federal MP killed by Maoist rebels attacked vehicles, blocked roads and shut businesses in Jharkhand Monday as police pursued the assassins in the eastern Indian state.
"Hang the killers," chanted mobs of angry protesters armed with steel-tipped clubs, machetes and bows and arrows, as police patrolled the otherwise deserted streets in anti-riot armoured vehicles, witnesses said. Jharkhand state Chief Minister Madhu Koda demanded a federal probe into Sunday night's assassination of parliamentarian Sunil Mahto at a football tournament here.
"The killers must be, will be punished," a visibly shocked Khoda said The guerrillas, posing as spectators, also mowed down Mahto's two police guards and a political aide at the sports grounds in Pakuria village, 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the state capital Ranchi. The group of around 15 attackers escaped with the service rifles of the two police guards, as hundreds of spectators watched the killings in horror.
Mahto, 41, was elected to Indian parliament's lower house from the steel-producing Jharkhand city of Jamshedpur, the headquarters of India's Tata business empire. Monday's dawn-to-dusk protests saw transport severely disrupted, with strikers also ordering schools, colleges and offices to remain shut.
India's junior home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, flew to the mineral-rich state, where outlawed left-wing guerrillas hold sway in 16 of the 19 districts. "The Indian government has taken this incident very seriously and even the prime minister has made a note of the assassination," Jaiswal told reporters.
"The centre is ready to give all support to the local government to fight the Maoists," he said, as police from Jharkhand and nearby West Bengal state launched one of eastern India's biggest and most intense anti-rebel manhunts. The high-profile Mahto belonged to the regional Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Liberation Front) party, an ally of India's ruling Congress party.
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