The district police claimed to have recovered SIM cards with the numbers from which Kishenji used to make calls to journalists and senior bureaucrats and political leaders. Significantly, yesterday, state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen had told reporters that the state government was not sure if the laptop belongs to Kishenji.

West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma, who led the operation in Hatiasol on Tuesday and Wednesday, however, said: “We are pretty sure of what we have seized. There is no confusion that Kishenji was present in the shelter which we raided. The laptop belongs to him and there is no doubt about it. We have enough evidence to prove he was present there.”

“We have seized the SIM cards of Kishenji from which he used to call journalists and a few bureaucrats. We have recovered documents on which we are working now. The details of the documents cannot be divulged for the sake of investigation. We have recovered the shirt Kishenji was wearing when he handed over abducted O-C Atindranath to mediapersons,” added Verma.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said: “It is not important to whom the laptop belongs. Kishenji may reveal on his own whether the laptop is his. To us, the most important thing is what it contains. As of now, we could open two files. The forensic laboratory is checking what the files contain.”

The operation was jointly carried out by the CID, district police and the Special Task Force. Based on a specific intelligence, Metala village near Pirakata in the Salboni police station area where Kishenji was believed to have come to oversee the training of a fresh bunch of recruits, was raided. Once the Maoists found the police approaching, they started firing.

Insiders said the security forces had divided themselves into two groups — one continued the gunbattle to keep the Maoists engaged while the other sneaked into their den unnoticed. On Tuesday night, when the operation was on, Kishenji and his personal security guards managed to flee right on time, alerted by the gunshots. However, three alleged members of the squad — Sitaram Hansda, Kanika Adak and Shefali Ber — fell into police dragnet. Insiders said though Kishenji had a narrow escape, he was clever enough to take away the external hard disk with him.