Thiruvananthapuram: Maoists in the Attappadi were murdered by the police in fake encounters, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said.
The CPI is the second largest constituent in Kerala's ruling coalition, the Left Democratic Front (LDF), also demanded a magistrate-level probe into the incident at Agali in Palakkad district this week.
Kanam's statements at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram after a meeting of the party's state council came as an embarrassing blow to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who insisted that the Thunderbolt commandos were forced to shoot at the left-wing rebels in self-defence.
“They started the fire and our commandos had to retaliate, leading to the unfortunate events,” he told the Kerala Legislative Assembly earlier on Wednesday.
Pinarayi Vijayan holds the charge of Home Affairs and Vigilence Departments.
Four Maoists were killed in police firing over two days in Agali. The commandos shot dead Karthi, Aravind and Rama on Monday and claimed that they had to shoot down Manikkavasagam the next day, when they came under attack during an inquest at the spot.
However, tribal leaders, who acted as messengers to broker a deal for their surrender, claimed that it was a pre-planned attack by the police.
Seven Maoists have been killed since the LDF government assumed power in 2016.
The CPI state council even passed a resolution to condemn the murders.
“Killing someone for following an idea is barbaric,” the resolution read. Kanam said that he did not agree with the Maoists' ideology but it could not be dealt with by bullets.
Kanam said he was told by his party colleagues in Attappadi that the police had staged a fake encounter.
Manikkavasagam, one of the Maoists killed, was so sick that he could not even walk without help, the CPI leader said.
He said the Maoists were having food when the police shot at them at close range, as testified by the residents of tribal colonies close to the scene of the shooting.
He said that the police had no authority to sentence someone to death. The Kerala police had no obligation to cooperate with the Thunderbolt unit even if they put up a request.
Kanam termed the Maoists as “misguided brethren” and said that the rebels were working to raise genuine issues of the people.
“They are not the enemies of communism or revolution. They are actively working in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other areas,” he said.
The Kerala State Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued notice to the state police chief to conduct a probe and submit a report within two weeks.
"The murder happened in God's own country.Police officials have not yet explained what provoked them to shoot at four people including a woman the moment they saw the maoists," Commission member P Mohandas said.
"Police do not have the authority to take some person's life just because they are suspected maoists," he added.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala had also slammed Pinarayi's statement and described the incident as pre-planned murder.
He said there was no proof that the commandos were fired at in Agali. He also added that there was not a single such incident in which Maoists were killed during the UDF tenure.
“We had jailed them but had instructed the police to extend to them all the benefits of a political prisoner,” Chennithala said.
Kerala Thunder Bolts,’ an elite commando force of the Kerala Police under the India Reserve Battalion (IRB), was created during the tenure of the previous UDF government headed by Oommen Chandy, when Ramesh Chennithala was the home minister.
