Bengal Maoist leader Suchitra surrenders in Kolkata

Top Maoist leader Suchitra Mahato, who had led some of the merciless  attacks in recent times and  was  considered to be a close aide of Kishenji, surrendered with her newlywed husband Prabir  Ghorai here on Friday.

Describing the surrender a ‘Big Gift for Holi’, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was with Suchitra and Ghorai at the state secretariat, said: “I am happy that Suchitra Mahato came here to surrender today (Friday). Very recently she got married. Her husband is also here. My best wishes for the newly-wed couple. They have surrendered, responding to our peace process”.

Suchitra was attracted towards Maoist ideology at a tender age of 16. She was considered to be one of the deadliest Maoist rebels of junglemahal. Capable of handling all kinds of sophisticated weapons like AK-47, Ak-56 and INSAS, she had led some of the most dangerous attacks, including the one on Silda EFR camp on February 2010 where 24 jawans were killed. She was also involved in the abduction of officer-in-charge of Sankrail police station Atin Dutta on October 2009, who was later released as a “Prisoner of War”.

Suchitra was married to another rebel leader Sasadhar Mahato, brother of Chatrdhar Mahato. After the death of Sasadhar in an encounter in February, 2011, at Kapgari in the Jamboni police station, she was given the responsibility of the Binpur-Lagarh squad- considered one of the most lethal squads in Junglemahal area. According to an official version, Mahato was injured in the encounter that claimed the life of Kishenji at Burisole jungle in West Midnapore, in November, 2011. The forces were looking out for the injured leader till she finally surrendered on Friday.

Maoist sources on the other hand claimed that Suchitra had not surrendered. She was intercepted from a village at Ghatshila, located along Bengal-Jharkhand border, in the first week of December 2011. Since then she had been in the custody of state Intelligence branch. She was forced to surrender, sources claimed.

Asked whether she was arrested in the aftermath of Kishenji’s killing, Suchitra replied in the negative. “Today (Friday) itself I came and surrendered”. She, however, refused to answer any further questions contending that she was not in a position to say anything more now.

“I am proud that my Maoist brothers and sisters are surrendering. This is an achievement of the government…this is a joint achievement of the government and my brother and sisters,” Banerjee said. “At the time of encounter Suchitra also got injured. She got bullet injuries in her waist. We will treat her,” she said.