The ACJM court of Jhargram today rejected the petition filed by the Lalgarh police to frame charges against Chhatradhar Mahato,leader of the Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) in connection with an incident that took place more than one and half year ago. In the second week of December,the Lalgarh police station filed two separate petitions in the ACJM court seeking an order to frame charges against Mahato in two old cases,that took place in April 2008 and March 2009. Mahato,who has been lodged in Midnapore jail,was today produced in the court. A counsel of the state government pleaded that on March 21,2009,a police camp at Belatikri village was attacked by suspected Maoists and Mahato was involved in the incident. Advocate Kausik Sinha,counsel of Mahato,however,pleaded that the police did not produce the case diary. Mahatos name was not mentioned in the FIR. But the police intended to arrest Mahato in a old case only to take him in their custody,Sinha added. Mahato has been lodged in jail for more than a year,said Sinha. After the hearing Sekh Md. Rezza,judge of the ACJM Court,rejected the petition of the Lalgarh police. Another petition to arrest Mahato in connection with the incident of April 29,2008,has been pending in the court and it will come up for hearing in the first week January. The police have alleged that Mahato was involved in the Maoist attack at Burimetal village in Lalgarh on April 29,2008 in which one person was killed.
