Calcutta, July 10: The strikes by suspected CPI (Maoist) guerrillas in Bankura and Purulia last night were plotted by Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji, a top-level Maoist from Andhra Pradesh, according to sources.
Rao is the chief of the organisation?s action squad, which operates in Jharkhand and Bengal.
The entire plan?said to be a retaliation of the crackdown initiated by the state government a month-and-half ago?was hatched a fortnight ago in Calcutta at a meeting presided by Kishanji and politburo members of the organisation, the sources said.
?Both the operations were carried out by the core members?both men and women?of the organisation?s action squad. The assassins, all in black trousers and shirts, were armed with sophisticated semi-automatic weapons and seemed adept at using them ,? said an official of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Chayan Mukherjee, additional director-general of police (law and order) said: ?He (Kishanji) is on the list of most wanted Maoists. Though, we have no specific information about his whereabouts, efforts are on to track him down.?
Police, however, agreed that Kishanji was a few steps ahead of them. ?There was no intelligence report from the officials of the Intelligence Branch (IB) who are deployed there. The IB has not even mentioned the names of the victims in their list of the Maoists? targets,? said an official of the CID?s Special Operation Group, the wing specially formed to combat Naxalism in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.
At a meeting on June 3 in Calcutta, leaders of the CPI (Maoist) had adopted a resolution and threatened those tipping off the police. ?The twin attack has proved the warning was not all that futile. While walking away, the assassins were shouting slogans describing their targets as police spies. They also warned villagers that all police informers would meet the same fate,? said the official.
Earlier, Maoist leaders had drawn up a hit list. Senior police officials, including an IPS officer, were among the targets. ?Besides, they selected the Lalgarh police station in Bankura as one of their immediate targets. They had planned to attack the thana sometime in the last week of June and kill officers posted there,? said another official working on the movements of the Naxalite outfit.
Bankura police, however, came to know about the plan. It seems, the attackers targeted CPM leaders after their first plan ? attacking the Lalgarh police station ? did not work out.
