By IANS,
Kolkata: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday announced compensation of Rs.500,000 and a job for a family member of a Government Railway Police (GRP) constable who was shot dead Friday while on duty on a train.
Banerjee also conveyed her “deep condolences” to the victim Arun Bhadra’s family, an Eastern Railway statement said.
However, it was unclear who the attackers were. While the police termed them Maoists, the the railway statement called them miscreants.
According to police, seven Maoists boarded the 605 Up Katihar-Malda train in the guise of passengers and attacked the GRP personnel between Samsi and Milangarh stations in Malda district Friday night.
The attackers shot Bhadra in the stomach when he tried to resist them. Bhadra died in the Malda district general hospital. Another constable, Sandip Singh, sustained a bullet injury in the leg.
The attackers fled with the constables’ service rifles and 60 rounds of ammunition after stopping the train by pulling the chain. Eyewitnesses said the attackers got off at the Milangarh station shouting Maoist slogans.