Jamshedpur (PTI): A top leader of an anti-extremist outfit was on Monday shot dead and two others were injured when suspected Maoists fired at them near his house at Musabani under Ghatsila sub-division of Jharkhand.
Following the incident, one person was lynched by the villagers at Telta village on the suspicion of being a Maoist, police said.
Dhanai Kisku, who was East Singhbhum district president of Jharkhand Vikash Morcha's (JVM) ST/SC cell, received five bullet shots on his stomach and face when three Maoists fired at him when he had gone to have tea at a shop near his house at Copper Townshipon Monday morning.
Kisku succumbed to his injuries at Tata Main hospital here, Deputy Superintendent of police Madhusudan Bari said.
The bodyguards provided to Kisku by the district administration were not with him when the incident took place, he said.
A worker of the roadside tea shop and one of Kisku's supporters sustained bullet injury.
Kisku was on the hitlist of Maoists ever since Nagarik Suraksha Samity (NSS), an anti-extremist organisation floated by the villagers with the tacit support of the district police a few years ago, spearheaded a movement against the ultras and lynched 11 Maoists in Ghatsila sub-division of East Singhhum district four years ago.
Rebels gun down vigilante
KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Jan. 5: Senior leader and well known face of a popular citizen’s vigilante group that made a life out of fighting Maoist terror, Dhanai Kisku, was gunned down by rebels early this morning while he was having tea at a shop near his Musabani residence without the four bodyguards who usually accompanied him everywhere.
The 40-year-old leader, who was general secretary of the Nagarik Suraksha Samiti, was fired upon by two motorcycle borne Naxalites. They first shot him with a katta or country-made weapon and then sprayed him with bullets from an automatic rifle, killing him on the spot.
After the shooting, the rebels fired indiscriminately while fleeing. Two bystanders were injured. They were identified as Rajau Sabar (28), who works as a helper at the tea stall, and Harachand Murmu (50), a local villager belonging to the Ghatshila sub-division of East Singhbhum district, which is about 45 km from the steel city.
Both are serious but stable.
Kisku lay bleeding for around 10 minutes till his driver, Prakash Kumar, came to his rescue. By then, the officer-in-charge of Musabani police station, Ramashis Paswan, reached the spot and rushed Kisku and the two injured to a nursing home at Ghatshila. Later they were all shifted to the Tata Main Hospital where Kisku was declared brought dead.
Eyewitnesses said even while Kisku was sipping tea, the motorcycle-borne men had taken two rounds of the area.
The third time, the bike came and stopped near the tea stall where Kisku was standing. And before he could react, the man on the front seat took out his country-made pistol and shot him. Kisku fell down.
By then, the pillion rider had got down from the bike and he began spraying him with bullets from his automatic rifle which the eyewitnesses claimed was an AK-47. The men then fired indiscriminately while making their getaway.
Always among the prime targets of Maoists, Kisku was a resident of Janegora village in Dumaria, but shifted to Musabani to a vacant house of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) for reasons of safety. He had four bodyguards.
Owner of huge tracts of land, the NSS leader had two houses. He is survived by his wife Jamuna and three children.
According to sources, Kisku would often leave his four bodyguards at his new house, about one-and-half-kilometres away from the spot of today’s shooting, to visit a long-time friend and companion Raimet. In fact, they maintained, the police had even warned him against moving about alone.
A post-mortem was conducted in the afternoon and doctors suggested that 12 bullets were fired on Kisku — one in the face and the rest in the chest and lower abdomen.
East Singhbhum superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh said Kisku’s killing was executed by a squad of six Naxalites, though only two appeared in the scene. They were in three bikes and fled towards Dumaria after the shooting.
Talking to The Telegraph, Singh lamented that Kisku wasn’t with his four bodyguards and revealed the NSS leader had met him on Saturday when he told him repeatedly not to move about alone.
Singh said a massive combing operation had been launched.
Kisku was also district president of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha’s (JVM) East Singhbhum Scheduled Tribe Cell. As soon as news of his killing reached partymen, they rushed to TMH. They also submitted a memorandum to Dhalbom sub-divisional officer Prabhat Kumar Kartik demanding Rs 20 lakh as compensation to his family and a government job for the next of kin.
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