Maoist encounter: Tribals, cyber tracking helped cops

KOZHIKODE: Though enveloped in a controversy, the tracking and killing of two Maoists were a result of a systematic planning and action of the police who befriended and used Adivasis to locate and track their hideouts and movements, according to sources. Police also used pieces of cyber evidence tracking the mobile numbers received from the Maoist leader Roopesh and also from mobile phones seized from various camping sites after encounters.

The operation started after the Manjeri firing in early 2015, where four Maoist leaders, including Vikram Gouda, escaped from the Thunderbolt commandos using a tribal family as a human shield, said an officer. Kanyakumari, Bhavani and Soman, were part of the team. Since then there were regular combing operations in the jungle of Karulai, Manjeri, Padukka and other forest regions from where suspected Maoist movements were reported.

In between, the central intelligence and anti-Maoist unit of Tamil Nadu police launched combined efforts along the border as it was easy to access the Nilambur forests from Ooty, Coimbatore and Devala in Nilgiris. Special anti-Maoist camps were opened in these locations. A special meeting of police, forest and intelligence wings of South Indian states held in Mysore last year also yielded good results.

The Onakkappara Maoist camp deep in the Nilambur forests was identified and verified by commandos many weeks back. Last week too Thunderbolt had made an attempt, but they failed to locate the camp. On Thursday when they rounded up the Maoists, there were many in the camp. The commandos were planning to capture them after throwing grenades into the camp. But embarrassingly the shell failed to explode, and the Maoists started firing at the force. Realising the strength of the force a majority of them ran away while the two were gunned down. Those who were more accustomed to the jungle escaped.