Manoj Mahato

Midnapore, Sept. 3: The family of People’s Committee chief Manoj Mahato has claimed he was picked up by police from his home near Lalgarh early this morning.

However, the police denied having arrested Manoj, 21.

Manoj’s mother, Durga, 40, said that around 7am, 10 armed people dressed in camouflage gear arrived at their home in Birkar village on five motorcycles.

“They surrounded our house. Manoj had just woken up and was washing his face. The policemen called him. When Manoj stepped out, they put him on one of the motorcycles and rode off,” Durga said.

She claimed that the police had come earlier around 2am but her son was not at home.

Some other villagers also said they had seen Manoj been taken away.

Saroj Mahato (name changed), a villager, said he felt that those who “picked up” Manoj were policemen because they were dressed in camouflage gear and were “armed with sophisticated weapons”.

“They parked their motorcycles in the courtyard of Manoj’s single-storey house and asked him to come out. Manoj immediately responded from inside. ‘I am coming, sir,’ he shouted. He calmly came out and sat on one of the policemen’s motorbike. Manoj looked calm and did not try to escape,” Saroj said.

Manoj’s father, Kalipada, 45, a farmer who owns a four-bigha plot in Birkar, said: “My son was taken to the CRPF camp in Kantapahari. When I went there, the officials told me that my son had been taken to Midnapore town.”

West Midnapore superintendent of police Manoj Verma said the People’s Committee chief had “not been arrested”.

He claimed the police doubted “whether Manoj even stayed at home”.

Manoj became the secretary of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities after Sidhu Soren was killed in an encounter with the joint forces on July 26. The police say Manoj is a Maoist action squad member and is wanted for murder and arson.

He had also openly marshalled villagers for Mamata Banerjee’s Lalgarh rally on August 9.