Lalgarh tribal leader held, Maoists rage

LALGARH/KOLKATA: Policemen posing as reporters for a foreign news channel managed to enter the Kantapahari (West Midnapore) hideout of tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato on Saturday and arrest him.

Mahto, the face of tribal protest has Maoist backing.

He launched the tribal movement against alleged police excesses in November. His arrest is a major breakthrough but could ratchet up tensions. The Maoists have called a 24-hour all-India bandh for October 3.

More than 60 people have been killed in the area since Mahato���s People���s Committee against Police Atrocities began to protest.

With Naxal leader Chhatradhar Mahato���s arrest, Jangalmahal is likely to see a major bloodbath, sources said. Shortly after the arrest, Maoists and PCPA members exploded a bomb at Dalilpur near Kantapahari when security personnel were on patrol. While Maoists claimed five policemen were killed, West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma said there was no casualty. Villagers, however, said they saw policemen carrying away injured colleagues.

IG (western range) Kuldeep Singh said permission has been sought from the West Bengal home secretary to charge Mahato under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). ������There are a number of cases under IPC against Mahato and he will be charged accordingly. We are prepared to handle any trouble that erupts after his arrest,������ said chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti.

Mahato had managed to slip past security agencies consistently in the last three months. It was his habit of keeping in touch with the media and briefing them about the goings-on in Lalgarh that finally turned out to be his undoing. Police and CID officers posed as journalists from a Singapore-based TV channel and lured him out of hiding.