Kerala: Crime Branch begins probe into Maoists encounter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 12-member crime branch team will probe the killing of two Maoists in Nilambur forests under the supervision of Internal Security Investigation Team (ISIT). The team headed by CB Thrissur DySP Biju Bhaskar has already reached Nilambur and are collecting the details of the case from the local police. ISIT SP Sasidharan and IG Balram Kumar Upadhyaya will supervise the investigation.

The probe was ordered as per Supreme Court guidelines that all encounter killings should be investigated. The team would be mainly depending on forensic and scientific pieces of evidence to determine whether it was a fake or a genuine encounter with the Thunderbolt commandos as claimed by the police. While there are widespread allegations that it was fake encounter, the police maintained that the Maoists initially opened firing towards a Thunderbolt patrolling team and subsequently the commandos retaliated.

Police also justified the restrictions imposed on media persons to the 'encounter spot' citing chances of undetected mines in the locality. Police sources said that over the last couple of years, over twenty incidents of Maoist attacks were reported in the state, five of which were attacks towards police and commandos. Kuppu Devaraj was involved in several cases and the 13 killings, including 12 police personnel, at Topchanchi police station in Jharkhand.

Maoist team at tribal colony

Amid strengthened police surveillance in the wake of Thursday's anti-Maoists strike in Nilambur forests, a gang of armed Maoists visited a tribal colony in the forest and allegedly threatened the government and the police with revenge for the encounter in which two Maoist leaders were killed. According to police sources the seven-member armed gang included Vikram Gowda, the south zonal committee member of CPI Maoist, Soman and a woman. They visited Mannala Cholanaika colony on the banks of Karimpuzha on Monday night.

The tribal settlement is only five kilometers away the encounter spot where top leaders were gunned down by the police. This is first appearance of Maoists after the police shoot out. They allegedly told the tribals that they would strike back with weapons and sought their help, the police said. They demanded rice and food items from the tribals, which were refused.

Preserve bodies, orders court

The Manjeri district and sessions court  on Tuesday ordered the government and the police to preserve the bodies of the two slain Maoist  leaders, Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha, till December 5.   Based on a petition filed by  Sreedharan,  brother of Devaraj, the court  barred  the cremation for a week and ordered to  preserve the bodies in the mortuary of the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.

A detailed hearing on the petition which also sought a comprehensive probe into the alleged encounter has been put off  to December 9.  The application demanding the post-mortem and inquest reports would also be considered  on that day. The petition filed jointly by Sreedharan and the Janakeeya Manushyavakasha Prasthanam, a rights organisation, has also demanded repost-mortem of the bodies. They also pointed out the incongruity in the first inquest of the bodies.   

‘We shot blindly just like Shikari Shambu’

Leading brains behind Thursday's combing operations in the Nilambur forests feel the lack of accurate information on their strength rather than the real image of the extremists, ended up in the brutal killings of Kuppu Devaraj, a central committee member of Communist Party of India (Maoist), and his associate Ajitha. "Though emerged heroic at the beginning as we were able to prove that there is great Maoist movement in the state jungles, the failure to catch them alive and use of excessive force, had dented our image," said an official.

"At least in inner circles, we are like the cartoon character ‘Shikari Shambu’, who got embarrassed and fired at all the resources when finally seeing a Maoist face to face.”  And there were regular combing operations, hue and cry over Maoist threat, funds, training for forces and so on. “There were reports of cross-fires in the jungle. But none of them believed us. And now when at last in 2016 we hit up on some real Maoists, killed two and seized their communications systems, we were told he is the central committee member and now all of a sudden we have become fake encounter specialists too,” he said.

“But we were sure we were on the move.  They regularly visited tribal hamlets, all located either in the interiors of forest or on the fringes, spent hours indoctrinating them, collected rice, kerosene, charged their mobiles and trailed back when they got the first rays of the headlight of the police jeep at the far end. By the time the forces reach the hamlet and start interrogating the Adivasis, the Maoists would have been at a safe distance." "Though we were informed about the formation of Western Ghats Special Zonal Committee we were not aware on the presence of Kuppu Devaraj in the camp. Even the our counterparts in neighbouring states failed to detect his presence . We had a tough time to recognise him. We passed his photographs to other states, and finally, the Tamil Nadu gave first inputs on his identity,” he added.