Das at home. (Surajit Roy)

Malda, Nov. 19: The additional superintendent who quit his police job after being shifted to Maoist hotbed Lalgarh said he did so on being unable to convince “seniors about the ground realities”.

Sisir Das was allegedly told to set up a camp inside a forest at night, which he said was unsafe for the entire team in the absence of proper groundwork.

In the wake of the tribal uprising to protest against “police atrocities” after a Maoist blast targeting the chief minister, Das, the North 24-Parganas additional superintendent (headquarters), was shifted to Lalgarh on November 8.

He was apparently told to take charge of the police camp at Kalaimuri for two days. After five days in the camp, he got in touch with West Midnapore superintendent Rajesh Singh to ask how long he was expected to stay there.

Singh ordered him to move into the forest in Pirakata that very night. “I agreed to move, but I wanted to move during the day as the area was unknown to us,” Das said. “The route through the forest could be riddled with landmines. It would have been suicidal to move blindly at night. But I failed to convince my superiors about the ground realities.”

He was subjected to several “whips” and his superiors’ “foul behaviour” as a result.

Back home in Malda, Das, 38, would not answer when asked if he quit because of the fear of Maoists. “I have resigned and have not yet decided what to do next,” he said.

Das had stood seventh in Madhyamik 1987. He appeared for his HS from Ramakrishna Mission Narendrapur and studied physics in Calcutta University before standing second in the West Bengal Civil Service examination of 1997. He opted for the police service.

Das lost his wife soon after marriage.

Lalgarh was not his first posting in a trouble spot. He was in Nandigram during last year’s violence and had been shifted to North 24-Parganas only about six weeks ago.