Patna senior superintendent of police Kundan Krishnan said, "We were depending heavily on him to gather more clues to get to the bottom of the plot and his death is a setback to the probe." The senior police officer said Kanu had admitted to his involvement in the attack and fulminated against the bureaucracy and cited "oppression" of the poor as the reason behind the naxalite offensives. Kanu had told media persons at PMCH earlier that the Sunday night attack was  meticulously planned two months back and that comrades from Andhra Pradesh had participated in the operation.

• Cops set up hunt for naxals

Kanu, who was in-charge of arms and ammunition during the attack, was critically wounded when the landmine they had planned to use at Jehanabad Police Lines accidentally went off. The naxalite leader succumbed to his injuries in the critical care unit of the surgical ward of the hospital, PMCH deputy superintendent Ashok Kumar Singh told PTI.

Head of department of PMCH surgical unit, A Q Siddiqui, said Kanu died of respiratory failure, shock and toxinia. Kanu was admitted to the hospital on Monday and was operated upon for intestinal perforation after a splinter pierced his intestine in the accidental blast. Siddiqui said four doctors constantly attended Kanu, but could not save him.