K.N. Ramachandran, the national general secretary of the Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML[Red Star]), has been missing since Sunday evening after his arrival in the city.
He was last contacted at around 5.30 p.m. on Sunday at the Kolkata Railway Station — he was supposed to go a local party leader’s house in South Kolkata. Mr. Ramachandran had arrived in Kolkata after attending a party meeting in Lucknow. He hails from Kerala.
“He called me at around 5.30 p.m. on Sunday and asked for directions to my home. It was the last time we spoke to him,” said party worker Ravi Palloor.
Registered party
The development comes amid reports from a section of the media that the CPI-ML (Red Star) is an “underground organisation and linked to Maoists who were allegedly fuelling the agitation in Bhangar” in South 24 Parganas against setting up a power grid.
Party activists, however, point out that the CPI-ML (Red Star) is a registered political party with the Election Commission.
“We have lodged a missing diary at the Ultadanga police station and have started the process of filing a writ petition of habeas corpus in the Calcutta High Court,” party’s State general secretary Pradeep Singh Thakur told The Hindu .
The party has alleged that since Mr. Ramachandran was scheduled to lead a delegation to Bhangar to meet the party workers involved in the agitation, the State police had “captured” him.
