Maoist bandh in Bihar and Jharkhand

RANCHI, May 14: Maoist extremists have called a 24-hour long bandh across Bihar and Jharkhand starting from midnight today, protesting against the arrest of the CPI (Maoist) senior functionary Mr Pramod Mishra.
Mr Mishra, one of the top leaders of the outfit is believed to be extremely influential in the outfit's central command and was arrested by a special team from his brother-in-law's house in the Vinodnagar area of Dhanbad, in Jharkhand, couple of days ago. He is presently in jail custody in Dhanbad and central intelligence teams are in a process of securing a remand from the court for him and take him in their custody for further interrogation.
In a message circulated by the Maoists across Bihar and Jharkhand, the outfit has blamed the police and the intelligence agencies of kidnapping Mr Pramod Mishra's son and then forcing Mr Mishra to reveal his whereabouts, before his arrest. n SNS