Conspiracy theory points finger at Akash

25 November 2011

biswabrata goswami
BURISOLE (West Midnapore), 25 NOV: At a time when the killing of top Maoist leader Kishenji raised a controversy with his supporters and some political leaders alleging that he was eliminated in a fake encounter, some party insiders of Maoists have also raised fingers at their party’s acting state secretary Akash for ‘conspiring’ with police to track down the rebel leader.
Akash, who was given temporary charge as the party’s state secretary following the arrest of former state secretary Sudip Chongdar alias Kanchan in December 2010, had developed " a sharp difference of opinion" with Kishenji, said a party insider from an undisclosed location.
The reasons ~ Akash was supposed to be dislodged from his temporary charge at a state committee meeting which was scheduled for 22-23 November inside the Parihati forest range at Jamboni in which Kushboni and Burisole forests fall.
An investigation into the death of Sasadhar Mahato was conducted under the leadership of Suchitra Mahato, wife of Sasadhar, in which Akash was blamed for supplying information about the hideouts of Sasadhar to police. Because of his specific information, security forces had been able to track down Sasadhar and kill him in an encounter.
Kishenji came to Junglemahal recently to attend the party’s state committee meeting and he was to declare his decision on these two vital issues. After realising that his political fate could be sealed, Akash tipped off police about Kishenji’s whereabouts, a rebel said.
The Maoist cadre argued "it is impossible that any of his security guards did not die while a top Maoist leader was killed. Kishenji had four strategic security cordons with heavy assault rifles protecting him. Then how could security forces kill the top leader, without any more bloodshed." Sources close to the rebels also said Akash was very much jealous about Sasadhar since he was a natural leader and he held sway over party activists. Though Sasadhar was not the party’s state secretary, the party members always  respected him and followed his instructions which enraged Akash.
Intelligence officials of different agencies have also corroborated that Kishenji sneaked into the forest to attend his party’s state committee meeting. "We were overwhelmed when we came to know that Akash was not present at the meeting. As we had specific information of the meeting, security forces had cordoned off the Kushboni forest on Tuesday, but the rebels managed to escape from the area. On the next day, we came to know that Kishenji and his accomplices could have taken shelter in Burisole forest and we launched an operation there," a senior police officer said.