Kolkata, Oct 2 : Demanding the immediate release of Chhatradhar Mahato, an elusive tribal leader of a Maoist backed outfit, supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-Liberation, took to the streets here on Thursday.

Carrying banners and placards, CPI (ML)-L activists and supporters torched effigies of Home Minister P. Chidambaram and State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

"Chidambaram has given a fascist call that everybody who supports the movements of the peasantry, movement of tribal people, they will be arrested under UPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act). This is nothing but an undeclared emergency. Chhatradhar Mahato is the leader of the people''s movement. And without any dialogue he has been arrested under the guise of the journalist and this is heinous act on the part of the administration. We condemn it and demand immediate release of Mahato," said, Partha Ghosh, state secretary, CPI (M-L).

Mahato, the leader of People''s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), which has been spearheading the agitation against alleged police atrocities, was nabbed from the Pirka region, near Lalgarh village.

Police nabbed Mahato when he was about to give an interview to a journalist who was being followed.

Mahato had been giving regular interviews when the paramilitary forces and the state police had launched the anti-Maoist operations in Lalgarh, a place declared as a liberated zone by the Maoists, on June 19 forcing him to go underground for some time.

The tribals under Mahato had a free run for nine months with the police withdrawing from the camps, before the paramilitary troops recaptured Lalgarh from the Maoists who were fuelling the tribal agitations. (ANI)