'Behead and bring their heads to us': Maoist posters ask for death of senior TMC leaders

Just 24 hours after four people were arrested for their alleged Maoist links from Bengal’s West Midnapore district, several posters threatening top TMC leaders were spotted at Murakata forest on Thursday morning. The posters were strewn over the road near the Murakata jungle under Gurguripal Police Station limits in West Midnapore district. 

The posters issued warning to the state transport minister Suvendu Adhikari and Salboni MLA Srikant Mahato. It read," Behead and bring their heads to us. The government is fooling people of Jangalmahal by offering them Rs.2 per kg rice.” 

Communist Party of India (Maoists) have been given credit for the message in the posters. Local police is trying to ascertain whether the threats are actually given by Maoists or are the handiwork of some miscreants. This comes at a time when four people were arrested by Goaltore Police Station on Tuesday. The four arrested are – Sabysachi Goswami, Sanjib Majumdar, Arkadip Goswami and Tipu Sultan.  

They were arrested from a football field near Kanjimakli forest in West Midnapore district as they were allegedly going to attend a secret meeting.  

As many as 43 leaflets were found from them.  The leaflets were signed by Akash alias Ashim Mandal – state secretary of CPI(Maoists) and sole surviving member of Kishenji’s squad. The last time Akash issued a press statement was back in 2011 and this is for the first time in the last seven years after Kishenji’s death that he has come up with a statement. 

Increasingly, sleuths believe that Maoists are trying to regroup in West Bengal. In the last 8 years, their influence has considerably weakened in the Jangalmahal area of the state, but there is a fresh bid to revive the insurgency. Thursday's posters discovery may well be part of the same mechanism.