The abducted ASM and railway porter were released in a forest after spending several hours in captivity, SP (Railway), Jamalpur, Shankar Jha told PTI over phone.
The naxalite group--CPI (Maoist)-- is observing a bandh in Bihar and Jharkhand today to protest police action against its cadre.
Chief Public Relations Officer of Eastern Railways, Ravi Mohapatra, however, said the railways had no official confirmation about the release of ASM Mukesh Kumar and porter Nirendra Mandal.
The SP said the Maoists set free Kumar and Mandal in a nearby forest after they learnt about a "huge" contingent of security personnel combing the area and fled.
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Kripasagar, the station house officer of Government Railway Police Station, Jamalpur, said the extremists threw some official documents they had snatched in the fire that engulfed the signalling panel.
Masudam railway station is under the Malda division of Eastern Railways.
The movement of trains was restored after the fire was doused around 5:30 a.m. but had to be suspended again at 6:40 a.m. following a phone call, apparently from Maoists, to the control room in Malda threatening to kill the captives if traffic was not stopped, Mohapatra said.
Some trains were run through alternative routes via Jhajha and Barauni, while a few others short terminated, East Central Railway CPRO Rajesh Kumar said.
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