Suchitra surgery plucks shrapnel - Metal lodged since Kishan encounter SANJAY MANDAL

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Suchitra surgery plucks shrapnel - Metal lodged since Kishan encounter

SANJAY MANDAL

Suchitra with Mamata after the rebel's surrender on Friday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta Calcutta, March 11: Maoist leader Suchitra Mahato, who "surrendered" on Friday, underwent a surgery at a private hospital in Calcutta today in which a fragmented bullet was removed from her abdomen. "Fragments of a bullet were removed from her body. Her condition is stable after the surgery and she is under medical observation," a senior government official said. The fragments were found between the left rib cage and abdomen, he added. Suchitra had suffered the bullet injury during the police operation in which Maoist leader Kishan was killed in Burishole forest on November 24 last year. Although severely injured, Suchitra managed to escape. She "surrendered" at the Intelligence Branch office on Lord Sinha Road on Friday morning and was brought to Writers' to meet Mamata Banerjee. Suchitra addressed the media standing next to the chief minister, during which Mamata said: "She suffered a bullet injury in her waist and is still unwell. The government will pay for her proper treatment." For a little less than four months, the bullet was stuck inside Suchitra's body. Doctors said if a bullet stayed inside the body for long, it could be risky. "If the bullet is static, then there is no problem. But at times it can migrate and affect vital organs, which is dangerous," said surgical gastroenterologist Sanjay De Bakshi. She was admitted to the hospital on Saturday. The Maoist leader, who has 80-odd cases, including murder and abduction, pending against her, has been kept in a private cabin of the hospital, heavily guarded by police. Her newly wed husband, Prabir Gharai, is also with her. Prabir is a Bankura resident who was involved in the 2009 Lalgarh movement. The couple got married on February 25 this year. Suchitra's former husband Sasadhar was killed in an encounter with security forces in March last year. CT scan and other investigations revealed metal fragments of the bullet were stuck just under the left rib cage. "There was a superficial wound on the body. Apparently, there was an earlier attempt to bring out the bullet, which was unsuccessful," said the official. A series of arrests after Kishan's encounter revealed that Suchitra was initially treated by a quack, Bhudeb Mahato. Bhudeb had told the police that he had given a woman an anti-tetanus injection and dressed her wounds. Police sources had claimed she was "caught" two days after the November encounter and was admitted to a hospital for treatment of her bullet injury. However, the bullet could not be removed then although the external injury had almost healed. Today, a team of doctors, including a general surgeon and anaesthetist, performed the surgery for 45 minutes to take the bullet out. "She was suffering pain in the waist because of the presence of fragmented metals inside her body and so it was necessary to bring it out," said the official. IB sources said that after Suchitra recovered and was discharged from the hospital, she would be taken to a "safe place under police protection." "The doctors have told us that she would fully recover in a week's time," the official said