There will be killings in Lalgarh as long as the security forces stay there, according to Maoist leader Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji.
He said the deaths were a part of the movement. Lalgarh is 165 km west of Kolkata.
“There’s no need to count the deaths because there will be more.
I give my word that we’ll stop killing if the state withdraws the joint forces from Lalgarh,” the senior Maoist leader told HT.
Kishenji’s comments were with reference to the Maoists killing four Communist Party of India (Marxist) supporters on Thursday.
On Friday, the Maoists and the Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) called a shutdown in West Midnapore district, of which Lalgarh is a part.
This step was taken because the police failed to produce two of its activists, Raju Adak and Joydeb Bera, before court by Thursday.
Jharkhand poll violence
Two security persons were killed and two others injured in two landmine blasts by the Maoists in Palamau (300 km north-west of Ranchi) and West Singhbhum (90 km south-west of Ranchi) districts during the fifth and final phases of the assembly polls in Jharkhand on Friday.
About 58.12 per cent of voter turnout was reported from the 16 constituencies.