Top Maoist leader Kisenji has been injured and hiding in West Midnapore district along with an associate and a woman leader, the police said on Saturday.

"Kisenji is hiding in the district and is injured. His associate Bikash and woman leader Tara are hiding along with him," Midnapore SP Manoj Verma told PTI. Verma, however, did not identify the exact location where they were hiding. Kishenji is believed to have been injured in a fierce encounter with the joint forces at Hatiloth forest on March 25.

Tara is said to have led the Maoists who raided the Eastern Frontier Rifles camp at Sildah in the district on February 15 that left 24

personnel dead. Police sources Bikash and Tara had plotted to attack a CRPF camp in Kathijore when the encounter near Duli village took place on June 16 in which eight Maoists were killed. They said 30 Maoist suspects have been detained with a massive combing operation still underway. "We believe that Maoists are still hiding in the areas being combed," a source said.