Ranchi:
He's one of India's most-wanted men, and though he was shot by the police on Sunday, he managed to escape.
Kundan Pahan, a Naxal, was spotted by the police about 40 kilometres from Ranchi. A short encounter followed before Pahan disappeared into the forests.
Pahan is reportedly the murderer of Francis Induwar, a senior police officer who was kidnapped in Jharkhand earlier this month. He was found beheaded, Taliban-style, on a highway. Induwar's execution sent shockwaves not just through Jharkhand but the entire country. In a heart-wrenching moment, his young son told television crews that he wants to be a police officer when he grows up so he can fight Naxals.
Last week, two other police officers in West Bengal were shot by Naxals and another was taken hostage for nearly 51 hours. He was released by the Naxals after the state government agreed to set 22 prisoners free, many of them accused of links to Naxals. The swap has been widely criticized by experts, and by the central government.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has recently been offering to start a dialogues with Naxals if they agree to a temporary ceasefire. That condition has been rejected by Kishanji, a senior Naxal leader who is known to operate mainly from West Bengal's Lalgarh.