IndiaStand

Bengal again witnessed bloodshed on its land. The fierce exchange of bullets that began at 4.am. to 10 a.m., in the Ranjha forest killed eight Maoist out of which several were teenagers, including three women .

Red- the color of blood..

Police said that though the bodies have been recovered and a teenage boy arrested, but the casualty on the rebel side could be higher as they are believed to have carried away some the dead bodies and injured comrades. ‘We have recovered eight bodies. One injured Maoist has been caught,’ said West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh.

In a joint media meet at the Salboni police station, that covers the Ranjha forests, it was revealed by the West Midnapore Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Deputy Inspector General of Police B.K. Sharma that the bodies were yet to be identified.

This operation is described as one of the biggest operations against the Maoists according to Verma. As during the last one year the joint forces were deployed to flush out the rebels from this belt and surrounding area. ‘With these eight, a total of 20 Maoists have been killed since the operation began June 18 last year,’ he said.

Verma also added some specific information that 40-45 armed rebels had set up base in the forest, central paramilitary troopers and police conducted raids in the area, and were greeted by a hail of bullets.

The operation was led by state police’s Deputy Superintendent (Operation) Anish Sarkar. Later, Inspector General of police (Western Range) Zulfiqar Hasan, Sharma and CRPF Inspector General A.k. Shukla also joined the raiding party.

‘We are also suspecting that the guerrillas might have taken a few of their dead and injured members along with them,’ Verma said.Till now there were no reports of causalities on the part of the joint forces.

Normally, the rebels are very particular about decamping with the bodies of their comrades and then burying those away from the spot so that the forces cannot get hold of the corpses. Therefore, this can be regarded as a rare instance where the security forces got the bodies of the Maoist killed in the gun battle.

Loads of explosive material was recovered from the spot including, an AK-47 rifle, one self-loading rifle (SLR), one .315 rifle, two 9 mm pistols, four landmines, 113 detonators, 26 gelatin sticks, 140 rounds of AK-47 rifle and 31 rounds of SLR, sockets, wires and searchlights.

‘We are suspecting and investigating whether these arms were looted by the ultras when they attacked EFR men at Gidhni and Sialda,’ said the SP.

On Feb 15, twenty four EFR jawans were killed when the rebels attacked the camp in West Midnapore district and four other EFR jawans were killed in an ambush by the leftwing extremists at Gidhni market under Jamboni police station Nov 8 last year.

As per the Maoist chain of command, only a senior leader is permitted to carry an AK-47 rifle. Top Maoist leader Koteshawar Rao alias Kishanjee carries an AK-56 rifle. Perhaps this was the reason that while pointing to the AK-47 rifle, Verma said, “From the arms recovery it is clear that a high-ranking leader of the ultra was present there.”

Is there any end to this? This kind of killing and bloodshed is nothing but a war with no survivors.