Kolkata:
Who is Chatradhar Mahato, a name that keeps cropping up at the centre of the storm over Lalgarh?
Officially, he heads a committee which was set up last November to spearhead the boycott of the police in the area. But Chatradhar Mahato has two other identities.
He was a Trinamool worker at least till May last year. And his brother Shashadhar Mahato is a Maoist.
This 48-year-old college dropout ran a family business in saal leaves before shooting into prominence as PCPA chief leading the police boycott movement in Lalgarh that forced the government to finally send in the troops.
Some intelligence report suggest this man is Chatradhar's younger brother Shashadhar who oversaw the attack on CPM homes and offices at Dharampur on June 15 and then declared a fatwa on Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. This man claimed his name was Bikash.
Other reports claim 43-year-old Shashadar's alias is Kiran who joined a frontal Maoist organization in 1995, underwent arms training, became a squad leader and key member of Maoists' operations in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts.
Shashadhar is married to Suchitra also known as Sulekha or Jharna Mahato, a hard core Maoist herself. Once when Shashadhar wanted to come over ground, his wife dissuaded him.
Chatradhar neither confirms not denies his brother Shashadhar's Maoist links.
What he is less ambiguous about is his links to Trinamool Congress. He apparently worked for the party even in May last year during the Panchayat elections.
Even as recently as February 4 this year, Mamata Banerjee shared a dais with Chatradhar Mahato at a public meeting of the PCPA at Katapahari at Lalgarh.