Kishenji killed in fake encounter, alleges SP

Samajwadi Party today alleged that Maoist leader Kishenji was killed in a "fake encounter" in West Bengal and said Naxalism cannot end through "mass massacre" of Naxal leaders.

Samajwadi Party on Friday alleged that Maoist leader Kishenji was killed in a "fake encounter" in West Bengal and said Naxalism cannot end through "mass massacre" of Naxal leaders.

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"The way reports of Kishenji's killings have come out, it does not look like Kishenji was killed in an encounter.... It is a fake encounter," Samajwadi Party leader Mohan Singh told reporters outside Parliament.

He said, "You cannot end Naxalism through mass massacres of Naxal leaders. You cannot end Naxalism while sitting in power. There are other ways of ending it."

The Samajwadi Party general secretary alleged that West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee "did not fulfil all the promises she made to Naxal leaders before coming to power".

"After Naxal leaders started killing Trinamool Congress leaders, she is now trying to end Naxalism with the help of police force, administration and Rapid Action Force. Now one after the other, Naxal leaders are being killed," he said.

He said that the earlier path of resolving issues through talks adopted by Mamata Banerjee was right.

Singh claimed he had opposed hanging of Naxal leaders many years ago and had sought commuting of their sentence to life term. He lamented that Naxalism has now spread in 350 districts across the country, against 10 districts only a few years ago.