A CRPF commando was injured and two Maoists were believed killed in a gunbattle that raged for over 12 hours today in a forest near Lakkhanpur in West Midnapore where security forces suspect top Maoist leader Kishenji was present. Three persons were detained from the spot but identities were not disclosed. A senior police officer said that intercepts of Maoist phone calls suggested that Kishenji could have sustained injuries in the gunbattle from 6 am to 7 pm. As night fell,the CRPF personnel withdrew from the encounter site. Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao called The Indian Express to check for news on Kishenji. CRPF Special Director General Vijay Raman said: We had specific intelligence input that Kishenji was present in the forest in Lakkhanpur. Based on that input,our forces moved. A Maoist shelter was spotted in the wee hours and we surrounded it. They started firing and our forces retaliated. The intensity of the firing indicated that a very senior leader was present at the spot who,as per the intelligence input,could have been Kishenji. We picked up three Maoists from the spot. We have handed them over to police, Raman said. West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh,too,said a top Maoist leader was present at Lakkhanpur. Based on the intensity of the firing,it can be presumed that a leader of the stature of Kishenji was present there. We have arrested some people from the spot, he said.
