Protest rally in Kolkata to demand Maoist leader's release

Protesting against the arrest of CPI-ML Red Star leader Alik Chakraborty, Left activists and members of the anti-power grid movement committee in West Bengal's Bhangar conducted a rally in the city on Monday afternoon.

Accusing the West Bengal Police of registering fake cases against Chakraborty, the agitators of 'Bhangar Andolan Sanghati Committee', a local resistance group against the government proposed power grid project in the South 24 Parganas district, walked from north Kolkata's Moulali to Esplanade and demanded immediate release of their leader from police custody.

A section of left leaders and activists including CPI-ML Red Star Leader Sarmistha Chowdhury, Party of Democratic Socialism General Secretary Samir Putatunda and city intellectuals also took part in the rally.

Chowdhury, who has been spearheading the movement against a proposed power grid sub-station Bhangar for the last one year, was arrested on Thursday from outside a private hospital in Odisha's Bhubaneswar in joint operation by Odisha and West Bengal Police.

The state police have booked Chakraborty under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act among other charges and took him its custody on Saturday after bringing him from Odisha in transit remand.

--IANS

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