Top Maoist leader Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji is reportedly killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Burishol in Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, sources in the state police have said. A woman aide with him, Suchitra, is also believed to be dead. Another three to four Maoists are also dead, though there is no official confirmation of these deaths. Kishenji hails from Peddapalli town in Karimnagar district of andhra Pradesh.

Kishenji, who had been foxing the joint forces for a second time in two years in Junglemhal, escaped yesterday alongwith Suchitra from West Midnapore district in West Bengal into Jharkhand. "We had strong information that Kishenji and Suchitra, the wife of a slain state committee member, were hiding in the jungles of Nalbani, Lalbani and Khusbani in Jhargram area of West Midnapore district," a top Counter Insurgency Force officer told yesterday.

The joint forces began the search for Kishenji after the arrest of five Maoists, who were members of a 'village defence squad', the outermost ring of four rings usually assigned to protect a top leader, a CRPF officer said. The five nabbed from Khusbani jungle, included Kanai and Prosenjit who were involved in the Silda EFR camp attack when 24 personnel were killed on February 15 last year, the sources said. Kishenji had escaped earlier during a joint force operation in the same district in January last year.
 

 

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