Thiruvananthapuram: The row over the gunning down of four Maoists in a remote Kerala forest region is yet to settle as CPI, the second largest constituent of the LDF government in the state, is simmering over the extreme action of the counterinsurgent force. CPI claimed that Maoist leader Manivasakam, one of the extremists, was taken into custody and gunned down by the police in Attappady.
K Prakash Babu, assistant secretary of the CPI, who visited the encounter site in the forests at Manjakkatty near Attappady in Palakkad, alleged that the cops not only staged a fake encounter but also forged false evidence to validate it.
“The encounter video too is fake. The shoot-out by the Thunderbolts was one-sided,” he said.
The CPI alleged Maoist group that consisted of five or six members were surrounded and shot dead. Manivasakam, who managed to save his life, was taken into custody, tortured and shot dead the next day.
Were the police video-recording the incident while they were engaged in the shoot-out? If that was the case, then the cops could have shot the video of the encounter with Manivasakam too. A probe is needed to ascertain whether the sound of the gunshot was indeed from the cops’ weapon, CPI leaders believe.
The Left party pointed to the rice and meat curry that were found lying scattered at the shootout site to buttress its point that the police action was a fake encounter. It was clear that the victims were eating when they were ambushed, the party delegation felt on visiting the encounter site.
It further deplored the conduct of Kerala Thunderbolts, the elite unit of the Kerala Police behind the killing of Maoists.
The tribals are scared of the Thunderbolts. They do body search of tribal women who carry goods on them. The tribals who used to eke out a living by selling honey and lac cannot carry on with their livelihood since they are scared of the Thunderbolts personnel, the CPI stated.
Prakash Babu said that the report the CPI team prepared after visiting the encounter site will be handed over to the Kerala chief minister on Monday.
The team had visited the place where Maoists were gunned down on Friday.
As reported earlier four of the Maoists, including Manivasakam and Aravind, who were killed in the encounter last Monday, were likely planning to surrender and had informed the police regarding the same through meditators. Their only demand was that the cases against them should be dropped.
