Chikkamagaluru: Three suspected Maoists, including a woman, were killed on Monday near Attapady in Palakkad district during combing operations. Out of the three suspects, two hail from Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru district.
A top police official told PTI that personnel of the Thunderbolt squad retaliated when shots were fired at them.The patrolling team was combing the deep forest area in Palakkad district. It was then the Maoists fired at them. As per preliminary reports, three including a woman were killed in the operation,” the official said. A bomb disposal squad and top police officials have rushed to the spot, the source said. The special team was combing the area after a tip about Maoist presence in the area. Locals said they heard multiple gunshots from the forest.
The two suspects from Chikkamagaluru includes a lady identified as Srimathi from Sringeri and a man from Mudigere, whose name is not yet ascertained. It is said that while the lady joined the Maoist folds in 2008, the man joined the same in 2004 and he alone had 21 cases pending against him in Chikkamagaluru district. The families of the two have been informed about their encounter and their family members will reach Kerala on Tuesday to identify the body.
Kerala Thunderbolts is an elite command force of the Kerala Police under the India Reserve Battalion.
Meanwhile, many have questioned the credibility of these encounters and asked why there is striking similarity in the manner in which at least six Maoists were gunned down by the security forces since 2016 in Kerala. They had gunned down Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha in 2016 in Nilambur in Malappuram district. Three years later, they killed CP Jaleel in Vythiri in Wayanad district. Karthik, Arvind and Sreemathi are the latest victims.
Many say that the after the encounters, police claim that Maoists had fired at them and they did not have any other option but to retaliate. Though the Kerala government would announce crime branch and magisterial inquiries into these killings, it never shows any interest in publishing the probe reports.
