Three Central Reserve Police Force commandos, who formed the strike squad that killed top Maoist leader Kishenji, have been named for President's police medals for gallantry on the eve of Republic Day.
The Centre has alerted governments of nine naxal affected states in view of the death reports of top Maoist commander Kishenji and asked them to exercise maximum vigil.
Maoist top leader Kishenji's body was flown to Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon by a cargo plane, hours after it was identified by his niece Deepa Rao and handed over to his relatives at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. The body, kept in a wooden coffin, was transported from Midnapore by an ambulance, nearly 150 km from Kolkata, with security escorts in accordance with the state government's decision to send the body to his native town in Andhra Pradesh.
The phone number given by Maoists to the media asking Union Home Minster P Chidambaram to call on Thursday for peace negotiations belongs to a police constable who was abducted by the rebels.The Vodafone number 9734695789 belongs to Sisir Kanti Nag, the constable who was abducted by the Maoists demanding the release of the Peoples' Committee against Police Atrocities leader Chatradhar Mahato.
Maoists are ready for talks if the Centre stops operations against them, their leader Kishenji said on Friday.
Maoist leader Kishenji has said Hyderabad is an integral part of Telangana region and the city should be made the capital of the new state when it comes into being.
For the first time, seven hardcore Maoists from junglemahal, including slain Kishenji's bodyguard, on Wednesday surrendered with firearms before West Bengal police chief in West Midnapore district.
The arrest of a person 20 days ago put the joint forces hot on the trail of top Maoist leader Kishenji who had called the shots in junglemahal and foxed them for over two years.
Is the number 3 rank in the Communist Party of India (Maoist) hierarchy jinxed? Two top Naxal leaders -- Kishenji and Azad -- have been killed by the security forces while holding the same position.
Top Maoist leader Kishenji has again become active in West Bengal's Jungle Mahal area, according to intelligence reports. "Kishenji was present in more than one meeting held in Lalgarh and adjacent areas in West Midnapore district in the last half of June, in all probability on June 22 and 23," said the reports. Joint operations in the area have come to a virtual standstill and six teams of the elite CoBRA force have moved to neighbouring Jharkhand.
Kishenji suggested some names of mediators, like a group of intellectuals including writer Arundhati Roy, singer and Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman, B D Sharma,, Gopal Narlekar and Ramanna.
A day after Home Minister P Chidamabaram termed Maoist leader Kishenji's truce offer as 'bizarre', the government extended an olive branch to the Left Wing extremists on Wednesday, asking them to ensure ceasefire for 72 hours to facilitate talks.Top government officials have said Kishenji's offer for talks may be considered if he could ensure complete ceasefire for 72 hours.Chidamabaram had termed the truce offer by the Maoist leader as 'bizarre'.
Top Maoist leader Kishenji on Wednesday turned down Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram's conditional offer of talks saying that the government should "first stop violence".
After Maoist leader Kishenji's recent phone call to Environment Secretary M L Meena, the West Bengal government on Tuesday cautioned officials against speaking to leaders of outlawed organisations. "Why should any of our officers talk to Kishenji? We don't need discussions with any leader of an outlawed organisations like the Communist party of India - Maoist," Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters. Sen, however, ruled out issuing a circular to government officials.
Maoists for the first time claimed responsibility for the gruesome killing of Jharkhand police officer Francis Induwar.
With firing having erupted in West Midnapore district on Tuesday, Maoist leader Kishenji demanded security forces stop it as a condition for the release of two abducted drivers of Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani.
Maoist leader Kishenji on Wednesday said Atindranath Dutta, the police officer whom they abducted in West Midnapore district, will be produced before the media soon but will be released only after the women arrested by the security forces are freed.
"We will build public pressure on the government so that they start the process for a separate Telangana state. The people will not allow creating deliberate disturbance to stop statehood for Telangana," Kishenji told PTI.
A day after Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said Maoists had plans to overthrow the Indian state by 2050, top Naxal leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji on Saturday claimed it would be achieved much before that date.
Maoist leader Kishenji on Monday claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was backtracking from his earlier plan to engage air force and army against the Naxals on the excuse of assembly elections and negative vibes from intellectuals.
Two Central Reserve Police Force officers, who killed top Maoist leader Kishenji in West Bengal, were on Saturday honoured with the Shaurya Chakra by President Pranab Mukherjee along with 12 personnel from the Army and the Indian Air Force.
After the death of Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji in an encounter in Bengal, many experts believed that the Naxal movement was headed downhill after the demise of their most powerful leader. But the recent daring strike on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh has jolted security experts out of their reverie and proved that the ultra left-wing movement has found a new leader.
There is a "high probability" of political leaders coming under a Chhatisgarh-type attack during their panchayat poll campaign in Maoist-hit Jangalmahal in West Bengal, intelligence sources here have indicated.
Top woman Maoist Suchitra Mahato, who had escaped after Kishenji's killing last year, on Friday surrendered before authorities in West Bengal as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee used the occasion to renew her call to the ultras to join the mainstream.
'Killing 40, 50 or 100 Maoist leaders will not solve the issue. If there were no Maoists tomorrow it does not mean that violence will go away. And that is what the government should worry about,' says Rahul Pandita, author of Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement.
Causing serious embarrassment to the Trinamool Congress leadership, party MP Kabir Suman has written an autobiography and dedicated it to top Maoist leader Kishenji among others.
In a blow to the Naxals, top Maoist leader Kanchan has been arrested along with two others from the outskirts of Kolkata. Kanchan, one of the top Maoist leaders after Kishenji, had planned and implemented the Lalgarh movement in November 2008. The Maoist Central committee member, who was wanted in several cases of sedition, was arrested by the Special Task force of the police on Friday. "Yes, we have arrested Kanchan from Kolkata," said a police official.
A fresh gunbattle broke out between the Maoists and the joint forces in Salboni area on Saturday, while the police remained tightlipped over reports that top leader Kishenji was injured in Thursday's encounter at Hatiloth forest in West Midnapore district.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has alleged that Maoists and organisations backed by them were mobilising people for the August 9 rally of the Trinamool Congress at Lalgarh in West Bengal, which would again lead to tension in the area.
Talks between the Maoists and the West Bengal government seems imminent with the Maoist leader Kishenji informing the media late on Wednesday evening that he was ready for discussions.
After a meeting with Buddhadeb, Indrani -- the wife of officer-in-charge of Sankrail police station, Atindranath Dutta -- said they had conveyed to the chief minister Maoist leader Kishenji's demand that the women arrested by joint forces in West Midnapore district be released immediately.
Maoists have threatened to extend indefinitely their bandh call in seven states if their arrested leader Azad is not produced before a court on Monday, a top Naxal leader said on Saturday. "Our 48-hour bandh call from March 22 in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and three districts of Maharashtra will be extended indefinitely if Azad is not produced before the court on Monday," said top Maoist leader Kishenji.
Condemning the latest statement of home minister, CPI-Maoist politburo and central committee member M Koteshwara Rao alias Kishenji told rediff.com over phone that it was once again proved that the Nehru family was never in favour of formation of Telangana state and the earlier statement of the home minister was an attempt to hoodwink the people of the region.
A demand for autonomy for three tribal-dominated districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia in West Bengal was made on Saturday by a top Maoist leader, who also justified the Gorkhaland statehood issue.
With the Naxals facing the heat of an imminent concerted operation by the security forces, a top Maoist leader on Thursday said the ultras were ready for talks 'if there was ceasefire on both sides' and withdrawal of the paramilitary forces deployed in the Naxal-hit states.
It is a blatantly illegal and no holds barred war against the Indian State, against the idea and existence of the Indian democracy and must be dealt with an iron hand.
Released by Maoists after three days in captivity, police officer Atindranath Dutta hopes the West Bengal government would take steps to trace two police personnel, who were abducted by the ultras on July 30 and are still missing.
The Communist Party of India-Maoist on Tuesday finally broke its silence over the tragic death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. The outlawed organisation described his death as the end of an era of a 'dictator, a war lord and an undemocratic World Bank agent'.Koteshwara Rao alias Kishenji, a senior underground leader of the CPI-Maoist, dismissed the outpouring of grief across the state after YSR's demise as an orchestrated show.
Maoists on Friday called a 72-hour bandh in five states and a partial bandh in three states to protest against talks, scheduled to be held in Kolkata, between the state governments and the Centre on issues of price rise and internal security. "We call for a 72-hour bandh on February 7, 8 and 9 fully in five states and partially in three states," said Maoist leader Kishenji. "The states where the bandh will be imposed fully are Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal."
It was the state government which has violated human rights and slapped false cases against the GJM, he claimed.
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