JOIN USEven though the ultras released the cop, Dipak Pramanik, on Saturday morning after the trial somewhere in West Midnapore district, the operation failed to nab any of the culprits who are believed to be hiding deep inside the dense forest, official sources here said.
Pramanik who was escorting a water carrier for the forces camping at Bhimpur was taken hostage from Pirakhali of Bhimpur block under Lalgarh by a group of armed Maoists who later set the truck ablaze.
“I was kept in a house by the ultras the whole night. But they did not torture me. I was given rice and fish for dinner,” Pramanik told reporters on returning to his Balichak home. Pramanik, posted at Belda police station of the district, was on duty at the Bhimpur camp.
Despite the massive security operation launched five weeks back that was aimed at flushing out the holed-up Maoists in the Lalgarh region, the daring act of holding a public trial of a police officer by the ultras has raised several questions over the effectiveness of the operation. Ultras, sources confirmed, had already killed five CPM activists in the past 10 days.
Many in the region have begun quitting the party in sheer terror after the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) held an open trial of three CPM supporters for their acts of commission in the last three decades, a district CPM leader said.
The PCAPA which holds the CPM responsible for lack of development in the region, has already issued strong warning to the party cadres to quit or face consequences.
DH News Service