Top PCAPA leader killed in encounter

A controversy is brewing over an encounter in Kantapahari near Lalgarh on Monday night in which Lalmohan Tudu,president of the Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities PCAPA,was killed. The CRPF claims to have killed three Maoists in the shootout,though the body of only Tudu was recovered. It says the Maoists managed to remove the other two bodies. However,activists have charged that all three were members of the PCAPA and not Maoists.

The most senior leader of the PCAPA after Chhatradhar Mahato,Tudu was in the forefront of the tribal movement in Lalgarh and even met the Chief Electoral Officer before the parliamentary polls.The other two killed are said to be Suchitra Murmu and Yuvraj Murmu.

Questioning the police version,Chhoton Das,Secretary,Bandi Mukti Committee,said: There was no exchange of fire. The joint forces entered the house of Lalmohan Tudu around 11 pm. He was killed along with relatives Yuvraj and Suchitra,who were husband and wife,in front of his mother,wife and daughter,who is appearing for her Class X exams starting today.

Denying the charges,Nageswar Rao,IG,CRPF said they had an intelligence tip-off that Tudu and other two Maoists would be visiting their native places at night. He said when they confronted them,the Maoists opened fire. Our forces retaliated after which three of them were shot.