A portion of railway tracks in Jharkhand's Giridih district was damaged due to a blast that was triggered by suspected members of banned CPI (Maoist) in the early hours of Thursday, an official said.

"A rail track between Chichaki and Chaudharybandh stations was damaged in the blast that was triggered by the Maoists," RPF Dhanbad Senior Commandant Hemant Kumar said as quoted by India Today.

"The panel clip of the rail track was damaged. Several trains on the route were diverted," the official said.

Train services between the two stations were stopped at 12.30 am after the explosion and restored around 6.30 am, he said.

The railway authorities stopped movement of all trains on Gomoh-Gaya rail section on the Howrah-New Delhi route for the safety of passengers.

Among the affected trains were Dhanbad-Patna Express, Hatia –Islampur Express, Ranchi- Lokmaya Tilak Terminus Express, Howrah Jodhpur Express and Kalka-Howrah Express.

Giridih Superintendent of Police Amit Renu reached the spot after the blast, and an investigation has been initiated, an officer said.

The banned outfit had called for a 24-hour bandh in Jharkhand to protest against the arrest of its top leader Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da by the Jharkhand Police.

He was the mastermind behind more than 100 incidents of attack and arson in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Image credit: PTI