Ironic it may sound. But one of the prime accused in the Gyaneswari Express case — who has 1 lakh rupee reward against him announced by the CBI, even mobilised people to the rally of Lalgarh on August 9 in which Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee was the star attraction.
Confirming this information, superintendent of police, (West Midnapore), Manoj Verma said, “We had information that Asit Mahato and Manoj Mahato were leading a PCPA rally at Purnapani. But when they heard that our forces were going to get them, both of them escaped. The rest of the rally joined the main rally at the school ground later. ”
Asit Mahato, who took the reign of the Maoist-backed outfit — People’s Committee against Police Atrocity (PCPA) after the arrest of Chhatradhar Mahato, had been on a backfoot eversince his name was announced by the CBI as one of the prime accused in the Gyaneswari Express mishap that had claimed 148 lives. He surfaced on Monday only to mobilise a group of villagers, mostly members of the PCPA — leading them to the Santrash Virodhi Mancha. It was, however, the fear of being arrested that kept him and the newly elected PCPA secretary Manoj Mahato from entering the main rally at the Lalgarh Ramkrishna Vidyalaya.
Asit and Manoj led the rally from Purnapani and stayed with it till Thakurpara — a village barely four kilometers from the main rally venue. “We suspect that there were some more PCPA members in the rally who had criminal cases against them. But they also fled with Asit and Manoj before the security forces reached there,” Mr Verma further added.
A large number of villagers from Bakshole also turned up at the Monday rally. Bakshole was one of the few villages where another Gyaneswari case accused Umakanta Mahato, even who has a one lakh award against him, had done a door-to-door campaign to mobilise the masses.
Other PCPA faces that turned up at the rally, included names like Bimal Mahato and Bimal Pandey. Bimal Mahato, a PCPA member who operates in Bhulageda has a criminal case pending against him, while Bimal Pandey, who happens to be the cousin of local CPI(M) leader Anuj Pandey, had once been arrested.