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Kishenji death: CRPF denies ‘fake encounter’

Fri, 11/25/2011 - 15:17



Kolkata, Nov 25 (IBNS): The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Friday rejected allegations that top Maoist leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji, who was supposedly slain after a hours-long gun battle with security forces, was killed in a fake encounter.

Claiming that he had “information” that Kishenji was arrested and "murdered in cold blood", Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Gurudas Dasgupta on Friday had said he had called Home Minister P Chidambaram to demand a probe into the death.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi,  Dasgupta said, "I have got information that he was arrested at 12 noon on Thursday and then murdered in cold blood by the police.

"If my reports are true, then this is a dastardly crime according to Indian law and also international law," said the communist leader, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ghatal in West Midnapore district.

"I have not said the reports I have received are true. I have said conduct a probe. And then conduct a post-mortem and arrange to hand over the body to his relatives," he said.

Hours earlier, Kishenji’s mother alleged that her son was killed in a ‘fake encounter’ and said that she will file a petition in Calcutta High Court demanding a judicial inquiry.

However, speaking to a television news channel CRPF Director General K Vijay Kumar said that the encounter at Burishol village in Junglemahal area of West Bengal on Thursday in which Kishenji was killed was "clean".

"We are confident that Kishenji has been killed. We were surprised that the normal security that Kishenji had was missing. It was absolutely a clean encounter but whenever such operations happen, such allegations always come. I am not surprised with the allegations being put," Kumar told CNN-IBN.

A magisterial inquest of the Maoist leader’s body has been conducted even as it was sent to West Bengal’s Jhargram for a post-mortem examination.
 
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday alerted all states of Maoist violence after Kishenji’s killing.
 
High alerts have been sounded in Maoist-hit states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Kishenji’s home state Andhra Pradesh.
 
Kishenji was killed on Thursday evening in an encounter between the rebels and the security forces in the forests of West Midnapore in West Bengal, said India's Home Secretary R K Singh.

"The officers on the spot said that it is Kishenji. 99 percent it is Kishenji," Singh told reporters in New Delhi. 

Bengali news channels quoting police officials earlier said Kishenji, believed to be around 53 years of age, is dead.

Union Minister Sisir Adhikari said the villagers informed him that Kishenji was killed in the encounter. 

The body was recovered after the encounter along with an AK 47 rifle from the forest of Kushboni under Jambooni police station area.

West Bengal Director General of Police Naparajit Mukherjee told reporters that after verification they would confirm the news but the AK 47 found with the body could be of only Kishenji. 

He said the encounter occurred around 5- 5:30 pm after a chase. 

A hunt is on also to track woman Maoist leader Suchitra Mahato.

Five Maoists were also arrested during the encounter, reports said.
 
A ceasefire between the Maoists and the West Bengal government led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee failed earlier this month and hostilities from both sides had resumed. 

Kishenji used to call up the media houses earlier but of late he was less available on the media. 

Security analysts said even if Kishenji had died, there was not reason to think the movement of the rebels would end though the killing could be a significant feat of the joint forces. 

Kishenji, was the seniormost Politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the group's military leader.

He had claimed responsibility for the Silda camp attack in 2010 in West Midnapore in which  24 paramilitary personnel were killed.

Born in the Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, Kishenji was one of the founder members of  People's War Group (PWG) in 1980 which later merged with the  Maoist Communist Centre of India to form the CPI (Maoist). 



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