Sidhu led dreaded Maoist squad

According to sources,he was among the Maoist leaders who had condemned the Jnaneswari Express sabotage, in which 148 people were killed.

The son of a farmer,Soren was a resident of Karkata village in Lalgarh police station area. He is believed to have been handpicked by senior Maoist leader Bikash and given training. Before he was killed in Monday’s encounter,Soren had given the forces the slip twice in the past five months.

“Sidhu Soren’s name was proposed as the chief of the PCAPA at the first meeting of the formation of the outfit in 2008,” said a senior police official. “The meeting was presided over by Kishenji. Kishenji,however,decided to keep Sidhu under cover and made Chhatradhar Mahato the public face of the PCAPA. In the meeting,it was said that since Sidhu was a known armed squad member,he could not be made chief of the PCAPA. Sidhu was made a member of the Central Committee of the PCAPA,along with Santosh Patro. Both used to run the PCAPA using Mahato as a front.”

The Goaltore squad that he came to head is considered the most dreaded in the region,and has prevented the forces from entering core Maoist operational areas.

“Sidhu had more than 36 cases against him,including murders,attacks on the Ramgarh police post and the Katapahari camp,execution of the Silda operation,and landmine blasts in Goaltore,Metala and Kadashole,” said an official.