Discreet visitors collect Kishenjis ashes

KARIMNAGAR: Even after his death, top Maoist leader Mallojula Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji continues to attract visitors to his native town of Peddapalli in Karimnagar district. The police too are keeping a watch on the graveyard where the slain Maoist leader was cremated, while the bereaved family members keep a low profile and try to get back to normal life. Within the last five days since Kishenji's cremation, at least five people are believed to have visited the Chandapalli graveyard in Peddapalli where a couple of them collected the ashes of the Maoist leader. While Hemanth Jadav, who is working as advocate in Jharkhand, picked up the ashes from the cremation site yesterday, Gopal Kumar Jha from Bihar paid a visit to the bereaved family members today. Clad in white and wearing a red shawal, Jadav went to the graveyard and collected the ashes from the cremation site in a red cloth. Surprisingly, he also hired a photographer from Peddapalli town to take pictures at the graveyard and also at Peddapalli police station. Later, he copied the pictures to his pen driver. He reportedly introduced himself as an advocate who admired Kishenji. While the local people said he was a native of West Bengal, police claimed he introduced himself as a native of Jharkhand.
The police who questioned Jadav believe he was a Maoist sympathiser and also a civil rights activist. "Jadav was all praise for Kishenji and said he was a man of masses and belonged to people of the whole country," Peddapalli DSP B Laxminarayana told Express. Another person Gopal Kumar Jha who visited the family members of Kishenji today, is being questioned by police who believe he is a tribal rights activist from Bihar. More people are suspected to have visited the place without the knowledge of the police.Meanwhile, Kishenji's family members are not willing to speak about these discreet visits.