An ultra-Left students' outfit, RSF, has triggered a row by symbolically naming the venue of its state conference after Maoist leaders killed by security forces. The conference was held at Jadavpur University.
'The biggest game changer has been the belief among Maoists that they can surrender and join the mainstream'
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.
Elusive Maoist top gun Kishenji was on Thursday killed in an encounter with joint forces at Burisole forest in West Midnapore district, a day after he narrowly escaped from there.The body of 58-year-old Molajula Koteswar Rao, better known as Kishenji, was found and identified after the Jungle Mahal encounter, a top counter-insurgency force official said.
The family members of slain top Maoist leader Kishenji on Friday alleged that he was killed in a fake encounter and demanded that his body be handed over to them for performing the last rites. Molajula Koteswar Rao, 58, better known as Kishenji, was gunned down by security forces in a forest in West Midnapore district of West Bengal. He hailed from Peddapalli in Karimnagar district. =
'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.
An alert has been sounded on the Andhra-Orissa border (AOB) and in some Telangana districts of Andhra Pradesh in the wake of the killing of top Maoist leader Kishenji in an encounter.
Top Maoist leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji was killed in a gunfight in Kushboni forest in the Jungle Mahal area of West Bengal, according to media reports. On Wednesday, reports suggested that he and a close woman aide had in fact escaped from the area. According to the reports, the gunfight is still going on Jhargram. The police are looking for Kishenji's aide Suchitra Mahato.
In a prize catch, the West Bengal police on Tuesday night arrested top Maoist leader Venkateswar Reddy, the suspected mastermind of the attack that killed 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel in Silda in West Midnapore district. Additional Director General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department Raj Kanojia said Reddy, alias Telugu Dipak, was arrested from Sarshuna on the southern fringes of the city.
Ending uncertainty and suspense, the Maoists have released Atindranath Dutta, the police officer, whom they abducted last week.
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.
"I cannot say for sure. There are several people who are known as Kishenji. There is also a possibility of existence of dummies," West Midnapore SP Manoj Kumar Verma 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.
Singh, known for his hardline religious rhetoric, was suspended by the party following protests in Hyderabad against his comments leading to his arrest by the Telangana Police.
Stirring up a fresh controversy for the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek claimed that the state government should be credited for 'murdering' dreaded Maoist leader, Kishenji.
The reliable Wasim Jaffer led from the front and scored his 35th Ranji century to guide Mumbai to 242/2 on day one of their Ranji Trophy Group A clash against Odisha at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
Round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country.