Kolkata: The arrest of a person 20 days
ago put the joint forces hot on the trail of top Maoist
leader Kishenji who had called the shots in Junglemahal and
foxed them for over two years.
"We came to know from the arrested person that
Kishenji, Suchitra and some other Maoist leaders were present
in junglemahal," Counter Insurgency Force, Superintendent of
Police, Manoj Verma told agency.
"On November 23 five persons were arrested from
Kushbani jungle. After interrogating them we were confident
that Kishenji was present in the area. Some documents found
from the house of one Dharmedra Mahato also pointed to it,"
Verma said.
When the operation was planned villagers provided
valuable inputs, he said.
"From our previous experience we knew that Maoists
while escaping took the Jharkhand route and so this time we
sealed the Jharkhand border first," he said.
"Two companies of Combat Battalion for Resolute Action
(CoBRA) and two companies of CRPF were used for the final
assault led by West Midnapore Superintendent of Police Praveen
Tripathi," Verma said.
"It was one of the most organised and planned
operations in recent times and only based on human
intelligence. No technical support was used in the entire
operation," he said.
Kishenji, however, slipped away when the joint forces
began closing in on November 23. "But we knew knew that he
could not get far as the Jharkhand border was sealed," Verma
said.
Yesterday the Maoists fired on the joint forces when
they were going from Kushbani jungle to Burisole jungle.
"When the encounter started Kishenji stood in front
and fired nearly 30 rounds injuring a CRPF assistant
commandant," Verma said.
"He was fighting from the front allowing others to
escape. Our jawans shouted at Kishenji and Suchitra to
surrender. But he did not and kept on firing and was killed,"
the CIF SP said.
Asked about Suchitra and the others who fled, Verma
said the search was still continuing.
Asked about the allegation that Kishenji was killed in
a fake encounter, Verma replied, "human rights organisations
cry foul when Umakant Mahato, Sidhu Soren and Lalmohan Tudu
are eliminated, but they remain silent when our jawans make
the supreme sacrifice."
PTI
First Published: Friday, November 25, 2011, 22:14