'Lalgarh operation not total failure despite Kishenji escape'

Three days after the abortive bid to net elusive Maoist leader Kishenji in Lalgarh, a senior police officer today said several important materials were later seized and the operation was not a total failure.
    
"Escape (of Kishenji) does not mean the operation is a complete failure. We found many important materials to be of help to carry out the operation which is in right direction. We think he is still in the area and hope to catch him," superintendent of police, West Midnapore district, Manoj Kumar Verma told reporters today.

Asked about the details of the seized laptop allegedly belonging to the elusive Maoist leader, Verma said the laptop would be sent to forensic testing and only then any details can be shared. The computer had a hard disk memory of 250GB, he said to a question.

The dress, worn by Kishenji during the kidnap of officer-in-charge Atindranath Dutta by the Maoists in October 20 last year from Sankrail Police Station, was also seized from the firing spot, between Dumurkota and Hatiasole villages.

Besides the laptop and the dress, SIM cards, mobile phones, five guns, a pipegun, ten rounds of .315 bullets, two landmines and two flashguns and handwritten-printed literature were found from the spot, he added.