LALGARH - Denying that he has fled from Lalgarh, agitating tribal leader Chattradhar Mahato Tuesday said he was still in this troubled area of West Bengal “with my people”.

“I am still staying in Lalgarh and there is no question of fleeing this region as I have committed no crime,” said Mahato, chief of People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), which spearheaded the establishment of a virtual “free zone” in the area seven months back.

He and another PCAPA leader were speaking to a private Bengali television channel.

“There’s no question of fleeing Lalgarh. I was very much with the people and will continue to be with them. I started a democratic movement against the police atrocities in Lalgarh,” Mahato said in the telephonic interview to Star Ananda.

He said the state government was trying to sully his image by falsely linking him with the Maoist guerrillas.

“They are trying to prove me a Maoist, which I am not,” he added.

The security forces and the state government earlier said that PCAPA frontrunner Mahato, Sidhu Soren and a few top ranking Maoist leaders like Koteswar Rao allias Kishanji and Bikash had fled the troubled region since a joint security operation of central paramilitary troopers and state police was launched June 18 in the area, 200 km west of the state capital Kolkata.

Police said Mahato had fled and taken shelter in Bankura district, Soren at West Midnapore’s Shalboni, while the two other Maoist big guns relocated to neighbouring Jharkhand.

“I am now in the Kantapahari area. Why should I flee when I’ve not done anything wrong? We just raised our voice against the police excesses which is our democratic right,” Soren also told the television channel.

“Our movement can’t be stopped unless they (the forces) stop torturing our women and children unnecessarily. We’re now preparing a plan for our future course of action,” he said.

Lalgarh has been on the boil since November last year when a landmine exploded on the route of the convoy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and two other central ministers - Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada.

Alleging police atrocities after the blast, irate tribals, backed by Maoists, launched an agitation cutting off the area from the rest of West Midnapore district and virtually taking over the role of governance by driving out the civil administration.

Maoists are active in areas under 21 police stations in the state’s three western districts - West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.