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Two Punjab mining executives
shot dead in Bihar
RANCHI: Two
senior executives of a coal mine set up by the
Punjab
government and the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) in
Jharkhand were last Monday shot dead during a two-day bandh.
Motorcycle-borne
armed criminals fired from point blank range at Deenanath Sharan
(aged about 80), executive director of Panem Coalmines Limited, and
his assistant manager Sheetal Prasad (60) at Amrapara in Pakur
district, about 450 km from the state capital, around 5.30 a.m. The
two, who were taking a walk, died on the spot.
Locals said the
criminals enjoy backing of a local organisation opposing
transportation of coal to Punjab from the mines of Jharkhand. The
company courted controversy ever since it got lease of coal mines in
Jharkhand, as tribals have been opposing the mining by "outsiders"
without undertaking development activities in the surrounding
villages.
The police was,
however, not sure as to who killed Sharan and Prasad. "Initial
investigation points to a criminal act. But we cannot outrightly
deny the involvement of Maoists and local tribal groups opposing the
coal transportation to other states," Ram Lakhan Prasad, IG , Dumka,
said.
14
October 2009
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