Kolkata : Pro-Maoist tribal group Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) convener Chhatradhar Mahato and five of his peers were on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by a West Bengal court.
Mahato, Sukhsanti Baske, Sambhu Soren and Sagun Murmu were handed down life sentences by the court of Additional Sessions Judge (West Midnapore) Kaveri Bose under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). They were also charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) dealing with murder, criminal conspiracy, waging war against the state, and various other sections of the Arms Act and the Explosives Act. Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee – two other PCAPA members – also got life sentences on charges of sedition. The duo was not charged under the UAPA. All six were pronounced guilty by the court on Monday. Before his arrest in 2009, Mahato was one of the prominent faces of the Maoist-backed tribal resistance in West Midnapore district’s Lalgarh area, about 200 km west of Kolkata, against the then Left Front govt. Lalgarh was on the boil for over two years since November 2, 2008, when a landmine exploded on the route of the convoy of then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and central ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada.