Kolkata : Telugu revolutionary poet and Maoist sympathiser P. Varvara Rao Friday alleged that top rebel leader Kishanji was “tortured” and then “murdered” in police custody in West Bengal.
“He was arrested day before yesterday, kept in police custody and tortured. Then he was killed in a fake encounter,” Varvara Rao told mediapersons at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport after flying down to Kolkata from Andhra Pradesh.
The security agencies have said Kishanji was killed Thursday after a 30-minute fierce gunfight in Burishole village of West Midnapore district.
Rao, accompanied by Kishanji’s niece Deepa, arrived in the city to identify the slain Maoist leader’s body which has now been taken to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital for autopsy.
“He has been murdered,” said Varvara Rao, demanding a probe to determine how Kishanji died.
“His body should also be airlifted to his native place for performing the last rites,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Rao demanded that the body of Kishanji, a Maoist politburo member, killed in a jungle in West Midnapore district Thursday, be brought to Kolkata.
“The authorities should embalm the body and preserve it. It should be brought to Kolkata for identification by Deepa. The post-mortem should also be done in the city,” Rao said .
