Mamata remains silent on fake encounter

 The body of Maoist leader Kishenji is seen after he was killed in an encounter with joint action force inside Burishol forest in West Midnapore, about 200 kilometers west of Kolkata. (AP Photo)Top Maoist leader Kishenji's body was flown to Hyderabad on Saturday by a private airlines' cargo plane even as allegations of a staged encounter continued to gain strength. The body identified by the Kishenji's niece Deepa Rao will be taken by relatives to his house at Peddapalli in Karimnagar district of Andhra where his octogenarian mother lives.

The number three in the outlawed CPI(Maoist), was killed in a gun battle in the dense Burisole forests in West Bengal's Purulia district on Thursday.

The 'fake encounter' chorus grew on Saturday after the police failed to show a second body or another arrest despite claiming that they had spotted Kishenji with fellow rebels in the forest on Tuesday. Swami Agnivesh too joined the "fake encounter" chorus and demanded an enquiry into the killing.

Some senior doctors of Jhargram sub-divisional hospital told HT that they had refused to conduct the postmortem because of lack of qualified doctors.

"The district police administration created pressure on us. But we do no have any diploma or degree holders in forensics," said one of the doctors.

These very doctors, however, had performed postmortems of several Maoist leaders including Sasadhar Mahato and Lalmohan Tudu.

Kishenji's body was later taken to the Midnapore Medical College. The doctors there who conducted the postmortem said Kishenji had sustained more than 25 bullet injuries in different parts of his body. But they refused to confirm the distance from which the Maoist leader was shot.

"We have removed six bullets from the body. His lower jaw has been blown away. His stomach, liver, kidney and other organs will be sent to the state forensic laboratory for viscera test," said Dr Somnath Das who along with two other colleagues conducted the postmortem.

Meanwhile, chief minister Mamata Banerjee continued to maintain a stoic silence on the issue.

Mediapersons waiting for a reaction after her return from New Delhi on Friday had to return empty handed.

"In fact, her position has sullied the success of the security forces. With no congratulatory message from the chief minister, the only solace was the visit by the director general of CRPF," said a senior bureaucrat.