Manoj Mahato (left) leads a procession to Mamata’s rally in Lalgarh on Monday. (Pradip Sanyal)

Calcutta/Midnapore, Aug. 11: Police missed the chance to arrest two wanted People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities leaders, Manoj Mahato and Asit Mahato, because they had concentrated only on the venue of Mamata Banerjee’s Lalgarh rally on Monday, giving the duo the chance to escape unidentified from near the meeting ground.

Had local policemen and intelligence branch sleuths been placed within a radius of 2km to 3km from the meeting venue and on the roads through which the committee leaders had led the outfit’s supporters to the rally, the two could have been netted.

On Monday, Asit and Manoj had openly led processions to the rally, walking past hundreds of unsuspecting CRPF jawans posted along the Jhitka forest. However, the CRPF men had been posted to “maintain law and order” and did not have any “clue about how the duo looked like”, police sources said.

While Manoj left the procession and disappeared into the forest just 2km from the rally site, Asit hovered near the BDO’s office in Lalgarh bazaar, half a kilometre from the venue, for about an hour before slipping away. Along the way, they spoke to the media and even allowed themselves to be photographed. While committee secretary Manoj is wanted for murder and arson, Asit is an accused in the Jnaneswari Express sabotage case.

Police officers admitted that the CRPF personnel posted along the Jhitka forest could have arrested the duo had there been someone to identify them. “We had to concentrate on the ground where Mamata was holding her meeting and could not place intelligence officials or local policemen on all the roads leading to Lalgargh,” an officer said.

Director-general of police Bhupinder Singh had said that wanted committee leaders would be arrested if they were seen at Mamata’s rally. At Writers’ Buildings yesterday, Singh said: “Were these two people (the Mahato duo) near the dais or the stage? What can we do if somebody is seen in a village? We can’t deploy our men there.”

A West Midnapore official said: “The audacity with which the two wanted PCPA leaders roamed about openly near the rally ground should embarrass the cops. They almost dared the police to arrest them.”

An officer said the police had tracked the whereabouts of Manoj and Asit by monitoring their cellphone calls on the day of the rally. But nothing was done thereafter as everyone was too busy with Mamata’s visit.

“Our first priority was to ensure the safety and security of Mamata Banerjee,” an officer said. “Arresting Manoj and Asit was not something we were overly concerned with.”

Police officers admitted in private that they had no intention of “going on an arresting spree” before the rally as it could have caused law-and-order problems with so many committee supporters around.

Manoj Verma, the West Midnapore superintendent of police, said: “Since Manoj Mahato had announced that he would be present at the meeting, arrangements were made at the venue to initiate lawful action against him. It is difficult to spot an accused if he melts into hundreds of supporters.”