Kishenji moves too fast,our network too slow: Top cops

With the Congress and BJP slamming West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees statement that it was difficult to track Kishenji...

With the Congress and BJP slamming West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees statement that it was difficult to track Kishenji as a sign of the complete collapse of his administration,top police officials of the state on Monday said that the Maoist leaders mobility,apart from lack of local support,made it difficult to catch him.

While Kishenji continues to be in Bengal,as per the location of his cellphone that is being tapped by the police,the closest the forces came to catch him was on the morning of October 23,hours before abducted police officer Atindranath Dutta was to be released. Orders had come from the top to abandon the raid at the time as Duttas life was at stake.

Bhattacharjee had admitted on Sunday his governments failure to arrest Kishenji despite the Maoist leader calling up mediapersons and even government officials at will.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said this was symptomatic of the complete collapse which has visited the Bengal administration. I dont think it requires any rocket science for the Chief Minister to be updated that technologies to track down calls do exist, he said. Either the Chief Minister is completely clueless about the public utterances that he is making or the government of West Bengal has a vested interest in protecting Maoists.

West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh acknowledged that Kishenji is in the state,and that there were a number of reasons he still hadnt been caught despite their best efforts. The special task force hunting for Kishenji comprises the state polices best personnel from various branches,including the CIDs Special Operations Group.

Sources say at least 50 attempts have been made in the Lalgrah-Jhargram area to catch Kishenji in the past few months. Three teams were even sent to Jharkhand.

He does not stay in a particular place for more than an hour. He is highly mobile,constantly shifting his base. It takes time for us to gather the forces and surround the area8230; but by that time he is gone. This has happened a number of times, said a senior officer of the Bengal Police.

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According to police there are two ways of locating cellphones one through online towers and another through contacting the service providers.

If the cellphone towers are online,we get the location within seconds. But in remote jungle areas most towers are not online and we have to call service providers,who give us the location after a span of two to three hours, added another officer who is part of the task force. By that time,its too late.

The lack of local support in the Jungalmahal area,which includes the three districts of Bankura,West Midnapore and Purulia,is another crucial factor. The informer network of the Maoists is very strong. Whenever the security forces leave their barracks to raid the area where Kishenji is holed up,local informers tip him off, said a top police official.

The dense jungle area means even satellite pictures are useless in trying to trace the Maoists.