CPI (Maoist) posters appeared in different parts of the city on Sunday, demanding release of arrested leaders and termination of the anti-Naxal operation by joint security forces in Jangalmahal area.
The police removed several posters pasted on walls in areas including Jatin Das Park, Netaji Bhawan and Tollygunje metro station in the southern part of the city and outside Nandan and Academy of Fine Arts, the two cultural hubs, in the central part.
City police commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty evaded a direct reply when asked if this indicated heightened Maoist activity in the city, saying, "Previously, posters were found pasted on the walls of Raj Bhawan and Writers' Buildings. The people behind this will be arrested soon."
The posters demanded the release of six Maoist leaders arrested by the Kolkata Special Task Force including Kanchan and Dwijen Hembram.
Though the police maintained that Dwijen was not arrested, the posters claimed that the septuagenarian cancer patient and state committee member of the CPI (Maoist) was arrested on December four -- the same day as Kanchan and four others were arrested.