MIDNAPORE/KOLKATA: A phone call that
Kishanji made on Wednesday night seeking reinforcements from Maoist cadres in Jharkhand proved to be his undoing. Kishanji and
Suchitra Mahato, widow of slain
Maoist Sashadhar Mahato, were on the run since Tuesday midnight when some 1,000
CRPF jawans and policemen, led by CoBRA commandos, launched a massive assault on a specific tip-off. There were involved in gunbattles all through Wednesday and Suchitra was reportedly injured. The forces kept up the pursuit using night vision goggles, concentrating on the Jamboni-Binpur area, particularly Kushboni jungle and the nearby hamlets. On Wednesday night, they intercepted Kishanji's call. At 9am on Thursday, joint forces raided the house of a college student, Dharmendra Mahato, in Bakshole. He is a final-year geography student at a Jhargram college and a Maoist supporter, said police. Police said Kishanji and Suchitra had taken shelter earlier at his home, about 20km from the Jharkhand border. Dharmendra was away but CRPF jawans searched the house and found a laptop bag, allegedly Kishanji's, several maps marking out CRPF camps, and many letters written by Kishanji and Suchitra to Dharmendra. The forces suspect Suchitra had taken shelter there on Wednesday night. Realizing that Kishanji, too, couldn't have gone far, the forces accelerated their hunt. Five companies of the CRPF 187 Battalion, led by CoBRA commandos, moved into Burishole jungle, which spills into Jharkhand. At the same time, CRPF units in Jharkhand were alerted and moved quickly to seal off escape routes in the vicinity of Ghidni railway station. CRPF forces converged from both sides. Kishanji was trapped. Around 4pm, the encounter started. Thousands of rounds were exchanged. The Maoists fired mostly from automatic rifles, strengthening the forces' suspicion that it was a heavily armed unit protecting a top gun. At 5.45pm, with darkness falling, the firing suddenly stopped from the Maoist side. "Our commandos quickly moved in and found a body closely resembling Kishanji," said a CRPF officer. Three more bodies were found. The hunt is on for Suchitra.
Bengal DGP Naparajit Mukherjee said an AK-47 rifle and Kishanji's hearing aid lay nearby. At least three more Maoists were killed. Only two
Bengal police officers -
West Midnapore SP Praveen Tripathy and
counter-insurgency force SP Manoj Verma - have seen the latest photos of Kishanji. Both officers were part of the operation.
